[A perspective on living conditions: child and adolescent mortality in Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

Using data from the Mortality Information System, this paper investigates the deaths of children and adolescents in the Manguinhos neighborhood from 1996 to 2000, to determine the main characteristics and associate key mortality aspects with local living conditions. An outlying working-class or "suburban" neighborhood of the city of Rio de Janeiro where the main campus of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is located, Manguinhos consists of 12 "communities" characterized by poverty, social exclusion, drug traffic, and structural violence. In light of these factors and the cultural, social, and economic potential of the Manguinhos population, the authors begin with the theoretical/ practical premise that living conditions played a major role in the deaths of these young citizens. The study of these fatal events may therefore lead to the elucidation of issues and problems that must be included on the agendas and in forums involving both health promotion projects and the Municipal, State, and Federal governments so that they can be appropriately addressed in the scope of public policies.