Maternal and infant health: understanding the role of institutions and medical innovations

Using data from southern Sweden, this work analyses the development of maternal and infant health in five rural parishes and the town of Landskrona in Scania, Sweden, in the last 110 years. First, we address the overall development of maternal, perinatal and infant health using a range of indicators, such as maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, and stillbirth rates. We also describe how institutional and medical changes reached the town of Landskrona and the surrounding rural areas. Second, we relate the development of maternal and infant health to the institutions and medical innovations available in the area, such as the expansion of hospital facilities, availability of antibiotics and the opening of maternity wards and neonatal intensive care units. We estimate the magnitude of the impact on a range of indicators of mother and infant health using time series analysis.