Abstract
Background: The child mortality rate is one of the important indicators that is influenced by various factors such as the health, economic, political, and cultural status of societies. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the causes related to the death of children aged 1 to 59 months in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (ZAUMS) in the years 2018 to 2020 using the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases. Methods: The population of this descriptive study was children aged 1 - 59 months who died in the population covered by ZAUMS from 2018 to 2020. The research data were collected from the mortality surveillance system for children aged 1 to 59 months of the Vice-Chancellors for Health and Treatment Affairs of ZAUMS. The data collection tool was a checklist. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The death rates of children aged 1 to 59 months in 2018, 2019, and 2020 were 7.6, 7.9, and 6.9 per thousand live births, respectively. The highest percentage of deaths was related to boys ages 1 to 12 months. Most of the deceased were residents of urban areas. The most common causes of death were related to respiratory system diseases, injuries, poisonings, and other specific consequences of external causes, such as congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities. Conclusions: Educating parents on timely treatment of respiratory system diseases in children, improving the knowledge of families to control accidents and take better care of children in high-risk environments where there is a possibility of burns, respiratory obstruction, poisoning, and drowning, reforming and promoting policies related to genetic screening plans to identify congenital abnormalities during pregnancy, and premarital counseling to prevent high-risk family marriages can improve children's health index.