Content area
Full text
Received May 18, 2017; Accepted Jan 16, 2018
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1. Background
Health and well-being of an individual are determined to a great extent by the proximal and distal factors ranging from genetic susceptibility, dietary, and nutritional habit to living environment, income, and awareness about personal health [1–6]. The concept of social determinants of health (SDOH) has been used as a reliable tool to investigate the underlying factors that affect heath and disease outcomes which are essentially a result of social rather than health system performance [7–9]. The degree to which a community or an individual is capable of understanding and practicing the fundamental concepts of health related behaviour (tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, and physical activity) is very much dependent on the knowledge base an individual is being exposed to, which in turn is dependent on having access to information and resources that act as enabling factors of living a healthy life [10–13]. The evidence on the association between socioeconomic and cultural factors on population health is practically universal as poor households in both developed and developing countries share higher risk overall morbidity and mortality compared to their richer counterparts [14–16]. However, the concept of the intergenerational effects of socioeconomic status on health and nutritional status is still in its infancy and deserves exploration from various sociodemographic and geographic aspects.
Mothers with higher educational experience and better economic autonomy are likely to enjoy the resources required to maintain a healthy lifestyle and have better access to health services [17, 18], which are considered to have direct influences on pregnancy outcomes and health of the new-born. From population health perspective, maternal socioeconomic status is thus a matter of particular importance as it serves as a strong determinant of child health. Moreover, infant/child mortality rates are regarded as a key demographic indicator that reflect the overall situation of a healthcare system, national development, and well-being of a population [19, 20]. Given this, it becomes no surprise that infant mortality rate was given a special emphasis in the millennium development goals which were adopted as a comprehensive approach to improving...