2000s. Provincial disparities in mortality have decreased but still persist, with
higher child and infant mortality in some provinces in the north-eastern, northern
and southern regions of Thailand. Nonetheless, a substantially larger reduction
in child mortality has been observed among the poorer quintiles, and the
excess child mortality risk between the poorest and richest quintiles decreased by
55% (95% confidence interval, 39–68) between 1990 and 200017. Low birth
weight remains a concern, due to its implications for long-term poor adult
health18,19.
Thailand had the highest annual rate of reduction in child mortality among 30
low- and middle-income countries between 1990 and 200620, and in 2006,
Thailand had the second lowest level of child mortality (Table 7.1).
Accurately establishing the level of maternal mortality is much more problematic.
Various estimates show a steep reduction between 1960 and 1990, followed
by relative stagnation since 1990 (Figure 7.5)21. In Table 7.1, Thailand can be
seen to have a relatively low rate in 2005, but not markedly low (110 per
100000 live births), although the most recent estimates, for 2008, were 4710
and 4826 per 100 000 live births.