This volume examines the respective roles played by custom, socioeconomic variables, and access to health services in providing the social context of mortality. It uses a variety of data sets and statistical approaches to study the mechanisms of mortality through an examination of the aetiology of the principal diseases which affect children in Africa. It raises fundamental questions about the relation between socioeconomic development, public health policies and the course of mortality, at a time when a concern about crises (drought, famine, AIDS, and economic problems) has been dominant, and examines the possible impact of the change in social arrangements which Africa is undergoing, particularly in the area of family relationships and childrearing, and the adaptation of social systems. A major theme is a plea for better data to evaluate health policies. The book will be of interest to social scientists and planners as well as to demographers.