Spatial modeling of geographic inequalities in infant and child mortality across Nepal

A survival regression model that allows for spatially correlated random effects is used to predict the hazard of dying among 12,714 children born between 1996 and 2006 in Nepal. The maps of fitted hazard rates show that even after accounting for individual and community-level covariates, a residual spatial pattern in infant mortality remains, with higher mortality concentrated in parts of Nepal's Far-Western and Mid-Western development regions. Results suggest a need to consider health policies and programs that reach children in spatially concentrated high-mortality areas.