[The health gap in Mexico, measured through child mortality].

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the health gap in Mexico, as evidenced by the difference between the observed 1998 mortality rate and the estimated rate and the estimated rate for the same year according to social and economic indicators, with rates from other countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An econometric model was developed, using the 1998 child mortality rate (CMR) as the dependent variable, and macro-social and economic indicators as independent variables. The model included 70 countries for which complete data were available. RESULTS: The proposed model explained over 90% of the variability in CMR among countries. The expected CMR for Mexico was 22% lower that the observed rate, which represented nearly 20,000 excess deaths. CONCLUSIONS: After adjusting for differences in productivity, distribution of wealth, and investment in human capital, the excess child mortality rate suggested efficiency problems in the Mexican health system, at least in relation to services intended to reduce child mortality. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html.