Patterns of infant mortality in Kuwait from 2003 to 2006

Infant death is often tragic, particularly in the Arab World, where infants, especially males, are supposed to carry their family's names due to ancient cultural traditions. The conditions and events that may be associated with infant death are extremely varied. Infants may die from either congenital disorders or natural diseases, or may pass away as a consequence of a complicated delivery.Infants are also victims of accidents and violence such as homicides.The main aim of this study was to investigate the reported medico legal cases of infant mortality in Kuwait due to natural and un-natural causes between 2003 and 2006.The average IMR rate in Kuwait during the study period was better than the IMR average for developing countries and the IMR average for the world during the same study period. In general, these figures for Kuwait are even better than the average for Middle East and North Africa.More medico- legal cases were reported for deaths among Kuwaiti infants in 2004, 2005 and 2006 compared to non Kuwaiti infants. More Kuwaiti infants died due to RTA and domestic accidents. In contrast, only non Kuwaiti infant died from infanticide.