¶ the incandescent subfusc wants a life away from greed and hypocrisy:

artificially peppy, chemically imbalanced, hardly easy, polyphonic colophon…

"it is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other" 

Infant mortality has many causes. Some of them include:

  1. congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities
  2. disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight
  3. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
  4. maternal complications
  5. complications of placenta, cord and membranes
  6. unintentional injuries
  7. respiratory distress of newborn
  8. bacterial sepsis of newborn
  9. diseases of the circulatory system
  10. intrauterine hypoxia and birth asphyxia

All of these occur more often when maternal health and nutrition are poor. In many cases, causes are multiple with low birth weight being a major factor. Infant mortality is highest in developing nations. These countries generally have a low GDP, low literacy, high levels of poverty, a high rate of maternal mortality and a high number of children per woman.