\"This analysis examines the institutional context of infant mortality in Peru using economic, social, health care, and public health measures as indicators of development and equity. Using linked data from population and economic censuses, government agencies, and health surveys on twenty-four Peruvian provinces, I explore how economic development and institutional contexts influence health outcomes. Regional inequities based on rural population, subsistence activity, women\'s illiteracy, monthly income, Gross Domestic Product, medical care, and health facilities are compared. Then a cluster analysis identifies institutional contexts that have internal similarities.... My conclusion is that understanding regional inequities--defined in terms of economic development, social institutions, and health services--leads to enhanced explanations of disparities in health outcomes.\"
Increasingly, attention is being given to institutional contexts to explain differential demographic and health outcomes. Regional inequality in terms of economic development, social institutions, and health services leads to regional disparities in health outcomes, especially infant mortality. The author uses linked data from population and economic censuses, government agencies, and health surveys on 24 Peruvian provinces to explore how differential economic development and institutional contexts influence health outcomes. Regional inequities based on rural population, subsistence activity, women\'s illiteracy, monthly income, gross domestic product, medical care, and health facilities are compared, with a cluster analysis identifying institutional contexts which have internal similarities. These contexts are able to discriminate differences in infant mortality. The analysis demonstrates that infant mortality in Peru varies systematically with social, economic, and medical contexts. Economic development, income and subsistence levels, women\'s literacy, and the amount of medical care and public health services influence health outcomes. It is clear that understanding such regional inequities can help explain disparities in health outcomes.