PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

B B Gubhaju

Publications and source records attributed to B B Gubhaju.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Ethnic differentials in early childhood mortality in Nepal.

This paper investigates the association of early childhood mortality (between birth and second birthday) with ethnicity in Nepal, based on data from the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey, which was part of the World Fertility Survey. The approach is through a series of hazard models, which incorporate ethnicity, year of birth, mother's illiteracy, father's illiteracy, rural-urban residence, region, sex, maternal age, survival of previous birth, previous birth interval, and breast-feeding as covariates. Ethnic differentials in early childhood mortality are not explained by the other socioeconomic and demographic covariates, except for a modest effect of illiteracy, but the remaining covariates explain a great deal of variability in early childhood mortality itself. Analysis using an improved specification of breast-feeding as an age-varying covariate indicates, on average, that breast-feeding, relative to not breast-feeding, reduces age-specific mortality risks during the first 2 years of life by 76%, a very large effect.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Impact of a pilot acute respiratory infection (ARI) control programme in a rural community of the hill region of Nepal.

A prospective study was conducted to determine the magnitude of morbidity and mortality caused by acute respiratory infections (ARI) among children under 5 years of age and to assess the feasibility of reducing mortality owing to ARI by the use of community health workers. Villages selected for this study were situated on the south-west edge of Kathmandu Valley, about 24 km from the city centre. The study group consisted of 1019 children under the age of 5 years at the beginning of the study and followed for 3 years. During the 1st year, baseline information was collected. During the 2nd and 3rd years, intervention measures (health education, immunization and antibiotics for children with signs suggesting pneumonia) were taken and their effect assessed. There was a 59% reduction in the ARI-specific death rate among study children between surveillance year and intervention year I and a further 25% reduction in the ARI-specific death rate between intervention years I and II. Despite a substantial reduction in ARI mortality with the interventions, there was still an unacceptably high mortality from chronic diarrhoea, malnutrition and other factors. This implies that the programme to control ARI, diarrhoea, malnutrition and immunizable diseases should be integrated into one, within the framework of a primary health care strategy.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1989

To what extent does breastfeeding explain birth-interval effects on early childhood mortality?

This article shows that in Nepal breastfeeding almost completely explains the effects of following birth interval on childhood mortality during the first 18 months of age and partially explains the effect of following birth interval on childhood mortality between 18 and 60 months of age. Breastfeeding does not explain the effect of preceding birth interval on childhood mortality. The analysis is based on application of hazard models to data from the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey.

Birth Intervals↗
PubMed1985

Effects of birth order and maternal age on infant and child mortality in rural Nepal.

"The present study examines the effects of woman's age at childbirth (maternal age) and birth order on infant and child mortality in rural Nepal." Data are from the Nepal Fertility Survey of 1976, carried out as part of the World Fertility Survey. The results show that the risk of infant death is higher for extreme birth orders. "The higher risk of infant death to first order births is mainly due to the fact that such births occur predominantly to young women. The importance of the synergistic effect of maternal age and birth order is also demonstrated: for example, fifth order births to women aged 20-24 and third order births to women under 20 have a risk of about one infant death in every four live births."

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Infant mortality trends and differentials in Nepal.

Infant mortality trends and differentials are estimated from the 1981 Nepal Contraceptive Prevalence Survey (NCPS) and compared with similar estimates from the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey (NFS) and the 1981 Census of Nepal. The analysis indicates that infant mortality rates derived directly from the NFS maternity histories are the most accurate. Infant mortality rates derived directly from the NCPS maternity histories are severely underestimated and yield a strongly biased trend that is the reverse of the true downward trend. Indirect estimates of infant mortality trends derived from child survivorship data do not result in a consistent pattern. Infant mortality differentials, when expressed in relative rather than absolute terms, are generally consistent with findings from earlier studies. Possible reasons for data quality differences among the three data sources are discussed.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of previous child death on infant and child mortality in rural Nepal.

Data from the Nepal Fertility Survey 1976, which was carried out by the Nepal Family Planning and Maternal-Child Health Project in collaboration with the World Fertility Survey, is used to explore the interrelationships of sibling mortality. Even when demographic variables are considered, the risk of infant and child death is considerably higher among children of mothers whose previous child died than among those whose previous child survived. An attempt is also made to examine whether it is because of close birth spacing or because of the family environment that the previous child loss puts the subsequent children at an excessive risk of dying during infancy and childhood.

Adult↗