Reducing measles mortality, reducing child mortality.
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Child mortality in Tanzania rose from 137 per 1000 in 1992-1996 to 147 per 1000 in 1995-1999. Impact of HIV on child mortality is analyzed in a longitudinal community-based study in Kisesa ward, Mwanza region. HIV data on 4273 mothers from 3 rounds of serologic testing are linked to survival information for 6049 children born between 1994 and 2001, contributing 10,002 person-years of observation and 584 child deaths. Impacts of maternal survival and HIV status on child mortality are assessed using hazard analysis. Infant mortality for children of HIV-positive mothers was 158 per 1000 live births compared with 79 per 1000 for children of uninfected mothers; by age 5, child mortality risks were 270 per 1000 live births and 135 per 1000, respectively. Fifty-one deaths were observed among child-bearing women, 14 to HIV-positive mothers. Infant mortality among children whose mothers died was 489 per 1000 live births compared with 84 per 1000 for children of surviving mothers. Maternal death effects were statistically independent of HIV status. Allowing for age, sex, twinning, birth interval, maternal education, and residence, the child death hazard ratio for maternal HIV infection was 2.3 (1.7-3.3); hazard ratio associated with maternal death was 4.8 (2.7-8.4). The HIV-attributable fraction of infant mortality is 8.3% in a population in which prevalence among women giving birth is around 6.2%.
The distribution of child mortality has often been misunderstood because of insufficient attention to its context. High rates of child mortality in developing countries have variously been attributed to child neglect, cultural traditions of child care, population pressure, low maternal educational levels, lack of medical care, and insufficient basic resources. The model proposed in this article organizes factors leading to high child mortality rates onto three tiers to contextualize the medical causes of death and the debate over traditions of child care. The proximate tier includes the immediate biomedical conditions that result in death, typically involving interactions of malnutrition and infection. The intermediate tier includes child care practices and other behavior that increase the exposure of children to causes of death on the proximate tier. The ultimate tier encompasses the broad social, economic, and cultural processes and structures that lead to the differential distribution of basic necessities, especially food, shelter, and sanitation. The ultimate tier thus forms the context of causes located on the other tiers. Research from rural Mexico, Central America, and Africa supports various parts of the model, particularly concerning traditional parental behavior, which has often been interpreted as child neglect but appears in many cases to result ultimately from economic scarcity. Links from tier to tier in the model especially warrant further attention from both researchers and policy makers.
Infant and child mortality differentials are analysed by education of parents and other family members, access to toilet, electricity and source of drinking water in urban Nepal, using data from the Nepal Fertility and Family Planning Survey, 1986. The analyses showed significant effects of education, access to toilet and electricity in lowering infant and child mortality. Access to toilet and electricity are proxies for household socioeconomic status which suggests that education and household resources are complementary in lowering the infant and child mortality.
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The objective of this paper is to examine how child mortality changes with different levels of maternal education and to quantify the impact of material education and female labour force participation. Child mortality gradients, according to years of education, are rather steep at the primary education level for both male and female children. In post-primary stages of education incremental gains in mortality reduction are almost non-existent. Child mortality is inversely related to both maternal education and female labour force participation but disaggregated analysis showed that female labour force participation has no impact on child mortality among females with fewer than seven years of education. The relative impact of maternal education on child mortality is three times stronger than that of female labour force participation. Excess female child mortality prevailing in certain parts of India also has an inverse relationship with the length of mothers' education, and female labour force participation. Female labour force participation has a stronger influence on excess female child mortality than on absolute child mortality. The evidence in the paper lends support to Bardhan's hypothesis on excess female child mortality.
Infant and child mortality levels and trends in Bangladesh are examined using data from the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey. Both infant and child mortality declined from the mid 1970s but infant mortality declined more quickly. The level of infant mortality in 1989 was around 100 per 1000 live births while child mortality (5q0) was 200 per 1000 live births. Life table analysis confirms the change in infant and child mortality. The decline in infant mortality is attributed to the introduction of improved public health measures and access to maternal and child health services.
The Egyptian National Control of Diarrheal Diseases Project (NCDDP) started in 1983. A field trial done in Dakahlia Governorate in 1980 to promote oral rehydration therapy showed that the mortality rate for the under-fives during the diarrhoea season was 18.1/1000 in control villages and 10.5/1000 in "outreach" villages (p less than 0.001). In 1986 mortality rates had become similar in the two areas and lower than in 1980 (6.5/1000 and 6.0/1000, respectively), even though there were no significant changes in diarrhoea incidence. Virtually all the reduction in mortality was due to a decline in diarrhoea-associated deaths. The principal differences between 1986 and 1980 were better case-management by mothers and doctors, in both outreach and control villages, and far greater television ownership. Village civil registers showed only slight changes in under-five mortality from all causes after 1980, but an accelerating decline from 1983. Governorate-wide civil registration data showed slowly falling infant death rates from 1970 onward, accelerating after 1982, with most of the decline corresponding to the seasonal pattern of diarrhoea-associated mortality throughout the year. Thus NCDDP promotion of better treatment seems to have been responsible for the decline in mortality.
"A parametric method for estimating child mortality from reports concerning children ever born and surviving children is presented. In contrast with previously proposed methods, it facilitates use of single-year age reports by mothers on the survival of their children. In addition, the new method makes it possible to incorporate a priori knowledge of child mortality and fertility in the estimation process. The new method is illustrated by means of an application to data from the 1976 Western Samoa census."
Empirical studies on child mortality at the disaggregated level-by social-economic group or geographic location-are more informative for designing health polices. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from over 60 low-income countries, this study (1) presents global patterns of the level and inequality in child mortality and (2) investigates the determinants of child mortality, both at the national level and separately for urban and rural areas. The global patterns of health outcomes reveal two interesting observations. First, as child mortality declines, the gap in mortality between the poor and the better-off widens. Second, while child mortality in rural areas is substantially higher than in urban areas, the reduction in child mortality is much slower in rural areas where the poor are concentrated. This suggests that health interventions implemented in the past decade may not have been as effective as intended in reaching the poor. The analysis on mortality determination shows that at the national level access to electricity, incomes, vaccination in the first year of birth, and public health expenditure significantly reduce child mortality. The electricity effect is large and independent of the income effect. While in urban areas, access to electricity is the only significant mortality determinant, in rural areas, vaccination in the first year of birth is the only significant factor.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the rate of and risk factors associated with child mortality in rural eastern Uganda. DESIGN: A community based cross-sectional study using the preceding birth technique--a robust method of obtaining information of survival of the previous child. SETTING: A rural district in Eastern Uganda. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 2888 multigravidae were interviewed in April and May 1999. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Number of deaths among children born alive. RESULTS: The under-two child mortality rate was 108 per 1000 livebirths. The annual child mortality was 82 per 1000 child-years of risk. Child mortality was associated with low parental education, being born to adolescent mothers or mothers aged 35 or more. Unconditional logistic regression showed that children born to uneducated parents had a doubled risk of not celebrating their second birthday. It was three times more likely for a child to die in the neonatal period than in the first year of life. Child mortality risk decreased by 4% and 6% for every year of education attained by mothers and fathers, respectively. Parity, residence and marital status were not associated with excess risk of child mortality. Seasonal mortality followed the El Nino rainfall pattern. Finally, there were geographical differences in child mortality although this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Monitoring trends in child mortality at district level can be done using the preceding birth technique in antenatal settings. Maternal education, an important predictor of child survival should be included in routine data collection at clinics.
The relationship of anemia as a risk factor for child mortality was analyzed by using cross-sectional, longitudinal and case-control studies, and randomized trials. Five methods of estimation were adopted: 1) the proportion of child deaths attributable to anemia; 2) the proportion of anemic children who die in hospital studies; 3) the population-attributable risk of child mortality due to anemia; 4) survival analyses of mortality in anemic children; and 5) cause-specific anemia-related child mortality. Most of the data available were hospital based. For children aged 0-5 y the percentage of deaths due to anemia was comparable for reports from highly malarious areas in Africa (Sierra Leone 11.2%, Zaire 12.2%, Kenya 14.3%). Ten values available for hemoglobin values <50 g/L showed a variation in case fatality from 2 to 29.3%. The data suggested little if any dose-response relating increasing hemoglobin level (whether by mean value or selected cut-off values) with decreasing mortality. Although mortality was increased in anemic children with hemoglobin <50 g/L, the evidence for increased risk with less severe anemia was inconclusive. The wide variation for mortality with hemoglobin <50 g/L is related to methodological variation and places severe limits on causal inference; in view of this, it is premature to generate projections on population-attributable risk. A preliminary survival analysis of an infant cohort from Malawi indicated that if the hemoglobin decreases by 10 g/L at age 6 mo, the risk of dying becomes 1.72 times higher. Evidence from a number of studies suggests that mortality due to malarial severe anemia is greater than that due to iron-deficiency anemia. Data are scarce on anemia and child mortality from non-malarious regions. Primary prevention of iron-deficiency anemia and malaria in young children could have substantive effects on reducing child mortality from severe anemia in children living in malarious areas.
BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause child mortality exist in New Zealand; however the inequalities in cause-specific mortality have not been examined. This study examines child mortality inequality by household income between 1981 and 1999, by cause of death. METHODS: Data was used from a record linkage study of census and mortality records of all New Zealand children aged 0-14 years on census night 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996 followed up for 3 years for specific causes of mortality between ages 1-14 years. All cohorts were combined to calculate mortality rates, rate ratios, and rates differences for each cause of death. RESULTS: Socioeconomic differences in child mortality (low income compared to high income) were observed for injury (non road traffic) (RR 1.87, 1.35 to 2.58), road traffic injury (RR 1.36, 1.01 to 1.82), and 'other' causes of death (RR 1.81, 1.32 to 2.47). 'Other' and non-road traffic injury deaths together contributed 70% of the total gap in child mortality between the rich and the poor. CONCLUSIONS: Socioeconomic differences existed across most broad causes of child death. The major contributors to mortality inequality are diverse, suggesting that the similar distal causes of inequality (e.g. poverty) play out through a myriad of proximal causes. Fortunately there appears to be some scope for policymakers to modify some of the proximal and distal causes of these inequalities.
BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in child mortality are known to exist; however the trends in these inequalities have not been well examined. This study examines the trends in child mortality inequality between 1981 and 1999 against the background of the rapid and dramatic social and economic restructuring in New Zealand during this time period. METHODS: Record linkage studies of census and mortality records of all New Zealand children aged 0-14 years on census night 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, each followed up for three years for mortality between ages 1-14 years. Socioeconomic position was measured using maternal education, household income, and highest occupational class in the household. Standardised mortality rates, rate ratios, and rates differences as well as regression based measures of inequality were calculated. RESULTS: Mortality in all socioeconomic groups fell between 1981 and 1999. Socioeconomic inequality in child mortality existed by all measures of socioeconomic position, however only trends by income suggested a change over time: the relative index of inequality increased from 1.5 in 1981-84 to 1.8 in 1996-99 (p trend 0.06), but absolute inequality remained stable (slope index of inequality 15/100 000 in 1981-84 and 14/100 000 in 1996-99. CONCLUSIONS: Dramatic changes in income in New Zealand possibly translated into increasing relative inequality in child mortality by income, but not by education or occupational class. The a priori hypothesis that socioeconomic inequalities in child mortality would have increased in New Zealand during a period of rapid structural reform and widening income inequalities was only partly supported.
This paper is concerned with the relationship between child mortality and the use of health care. We develop a simultaneous model of fetal and postnatal mortality risks and input demand equations for prenatal medical care and institutional delivery. This model is applied to retrospective data from Peninsular Malaysia covering 1950-1988. The results show that prenatal medical care and institutional delivery have strong beneficial effects on child survival probabilities, and that these effects are substantially underestimated when adverse self-selection among users of health care is ignored. The effectiveness of prenatal health care in Malaysia improved until 1980, and then deteriorated. We find that the risk of infant and child mortality is not independent of fetal survival, but show that ignoring selective fetal survival introduces only mild biases in infant and child mortality estimation. Higher infant and child mortality rates among young mothers are partly explained by their lower likelihood of purchasing health care.
In an earlier paper, the author identified the role of maternal social characteristics on child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa through statistical analysis (Iyun, 1992; GeoJournal, 26(1), 43-52). This follow-up analysis attempts to further analyze and determine the relative significance of environmental and maternal factors on childhood mortality in two contrasting towns in southwestern Nigeria. The research design takes advantage of the integration of the medical and social sciences. The results of the current analysis reveal interesting insights into child mortality and maternal factors on one hand and domestic environmental conditions on the other. They give credence to an ecological perspective as a way to understand the complexities behind child survival. Domestic environmental conditions were stronger predictors of child mortality in the more developed study town, Ota, than the more traditional town, Iseyin. However, in both sites maternal factors, in particular age of mother at marriage, age of mother at first childbirth and parity were statistically significant predictors of child mortality. Mother's education was only significant in the more urbanized center, and generally remains inconsistent in its relationship with child mortality. Furthermore, child mortality rates continued to be a function of an environmental factor, namely source of drinking water, and a child care behavior factor, where the child was kept when mother was at work, especially the market environment.
Child mortality reflects a country's level of socio-economic development and quality of life. In developing countries, mortality rates are not only influenced by socio-economic, demographic and health variables but they also vary considerably across regions and districts. In this paper, we analysed child mortality in Nigeria with flexible geoadditive discrete-time survival models. This class of models allows us to measure small-area district-specific spatial effects simultaneously with possibly non-linear or time-varying effects of other factors. Inference is fully Bayesian and uses computationally efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation techniques. The application is based on the 1999 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Our method assesses effects at a high level of temporal and spatial resolution not available with traditional parametric models, and the results provide some evidence on how to reduce child mortality by improving socio-economic and public health conditions.
To identify the individual and household level variables associated with increased risk of mortality, 159 infant and 50 child deaths (cases) and equal number of age matched live infants and children (controls) and their families were studied in a rural area of Haryana. The social, economic, educational and environmental characteristics of the case and control families were similar. Increased risk of infant and child mortality was associated with maternal age less than 20 and more than 30 years, birth order 4th or higher, unclean cord care at the time of child birth, failure of breast feeding during the first 3 months of age, lack of immunizations, and previous infant or child death(s) in the family (Odds ratio greater than 2; P less than 0.05-0.01 by X2 test). An emphasis on the interventions directed at control of the above mentioned variables may prove most helpful in reducing infant and child mortality in a rural area.