Economic disparity and child survival in Cambodia

Determinants of neonatal, infant and under-five mortality in a war-affected country: analysis of the 2010 Household Health Survey in South Sudan

Background

Under-five children born in a fragile and war-affected setting of South Sudan are faced with a high risk of death as reflecting in high under-five mortality. In South Sudan health inequities and inequitable condition of daily living play a significant role in childhood mortality. This study examines factors associated with under-five mortality in South Sudan.

Methods

The study population includes 8125 singleton, live birth, under-five children born in South Sudan within 5 years prior to the 2010 South Sudan Household Survey. Factors associated with neonatal, infant and under-five deaths were examined using generalised linear latent and mixed models with the logit link and binomial family that adjusted for cluster and survey weights.

Results

The multivariate analysis showed that mothers who reported a previous death of a child reported significantly higher risk of neonatal (adjusted OR (AOR)=3.74, 95% confidence interval (CI 2.88 to 4.87), P<0.001), infant (AOR=3.19, 95% CI (2.62 to 3.88), P<0.001) and under-five deaths (AOR=3.07, 95% CI (2.58 to 3.64), P<0.001). Other associated factors included urban dwellers (AOR=1.37, 95% CI (1.01 to 1.87), P=0.045) for neonatal, (AOR=1.35, 95% CI (1.08 to 1.69), P=0.009) for infants and (AOR=1.39, 95% CI (1.13 to 1.71), P=0.002) for under-five death. Unimproved sources of drinking water were significantly associated with neonatal mortality (AOR=1.91, 95% CI (1.11 to 3.31), P=0.02).

Conclusions

This study suggested that the condition and circumstances in which the child is born into, and lives with, play a role in under-five mortality, such as higher mortality among children born to teenage mothers. Ensuring equitable healthcare service delivery to all disadvantaged populations of children in both urban and rural areas is essential but remains a challenge, while violence continues in South Sudan.

Log-Logistic Proportional Odds Model for Analyzing Infant Mortality in Bangladesh

Log-logistic parametric survival regression model has been used to find out the potential determinants of infant mortality in Bangladesh using the data extracted from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2011. First, nonparametric product-limit approach has been used to examine the unadjusted association between infant mortality and covariate of interest. It is found that maternal education, membership of nongovernmental organizations, age of mother at birth, sex of child, size of child at birth, and place of delivery play an important role in reducing the infant mortality, adjusting relevant covariates.

The impact of household wealth on child survival in Ghana

BACKGROUND

Improving child health is one of the major policy agendas for most of the governments, especially in the developing countries. These governments have been implementing various strategies such as improving healthcare financing, improving access to health, increasing educational level, and income level of the household to improve child health. Despite all these efforts, under-five and infant mortality rates remain high in many developing nations. Some previous studies examined how economic development or household's economic condition contributes to child survival in developing countries. In Ghana, the question as to what extent does economic circumstances of households reduces infant and child mortality still remain largely unanswered. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which wealth affects the survival of under-five children, using data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of Ghana.

METHODS

In this study, we use four waves of data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of Ghana from 1993 to 2008. The DHS is a detailed data set that provides comprehensive information on households and their demographic characteristics in Ghana. Data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to women (from 6000 households) of reproductive age between 15 and 49 years, which asked, among other things, their birth history information. The Weibull hazard model with gamma frailty was used to estimate wealth effect, as well as the trend of wealth effect on child's survival probability.

RESULTS

We find that household wealth status has a significant effect on the child survival in Ghana. A child is more likely to survive when he/she is from a household with high wealth status. Among other factors, birth spacing and parental education were found to be highly significant to increase a child's survival probability.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings offer plausible mechanisms for the association of household wealth and child survival. We therefore suggest that the Government of Ghana strengthens and sustains improved livelihood programs, which reduce poverty. They should also take further initiatives that will increase adult education and improve health knowledge. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Ghana that combines four cross sectional data sets from DHS to study a policy-relevant question. We extend Standard Weibull hazard model into Weibull hazard model with gamma frailty, which gives us a more accurate estimation. Finally, the findings of this study are of interest not only because they provide insights into the determinants of child health in Ghana and other developing countries, but they also suggest policies beyond the scope of health.

Entrenched geographical and socioeconomic disparities in child mortality: trends in absolute and relative inequalities in Cambodia

Background

Cambodia has made considerable improvements in mortality rates for children under the age of five and neonates. These improvements may, however, mask considerable disparities between subnational populations. In this paper, we examine the extent of the country's child mortality inequalities.

Methods

Mortality rates for children under-five and neonates were directly estimated using the 2000, 2005 and 2010 waves of the Cambodian Demographic Health Survey. Disparities were measured on both absolute and relative scales using rate differences and ratios, and where applicable, slope and relative indices of inequality by levels of rural/urban location, regions and household wealth.

Findings

Since 2000, considerable reductions in under-five and to a lesser extent in neonatal mortality rates have been observed. This mortality decline has, however, been accompanied by an increase in relative inequality in both rates of child mortality for geography-related stratifying markers. For absolute inequality amongst regions, most trends are increasing, particularly for neonatal mortality, but are not statistically significant. The only exception to this general pattern is the statistically significant positive trend in absolute inequality for under-five mortality in the Coastal region. For wealth, some evidence for increases in both relative and absolute inequality for neonates is observed.

Conclusion

Despite considerable gains in reducing under-five and neonatal mortality at a national level, entrenched and increased geographical and wealth-based inequality in mortality, at least on a relative scale, remain. As expected, national progress seems to be associated with the period of political and macroeconomic stability that started in the early 2000s. However, issues of quality of care and potential non-inclusive economic growth might explain remaining disparities, particularly across wealth and geography markers. A focus on further addressing key supply and demand side barriers to accessing maternal and child health care and on the social determinants of health will be essential in narrowing inequalities.

The trend of retinopathy of prematurity in Malaysia from 1992 to 2001 based on a nationwide blind schools study

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the most important causes of childhood blindness worldwide. The trend of ROP in Malaysia was unclear because there was no national registry before 2002. The purpose of this study is to analyze ROP students of different ages in the schools for the blind in Malaysia in order to evaluate the trend of ROP from 1992 to 2001. Data were obtained from a previous survey of 24 blind schools. It was found that 78 students or 17.4% were blind/severely visual impaired as a result of ROP. There was a significant surge in the number of ROP students who were born in 1994 when the use of synthetic surfactants was first introduced in Malaysia; otherwise there was no increasing trend in the number of students with ROP. However, the percentage of ROP in total was increasing, which indicates that ROP is becoming a more important cause of childhood blindness in this country.

Child mortality in India: a complex situation

BACKGROUND

The countdown database to track the maternal and child survival rate, as set by the Millennium Development Goal, reported recently that India's progress is not satisfactory in reducing newborn and child deaths.

DATA SOURCES

Articles on neonatal and child mortality in India were accessed from PubMed/MEDLINE. Risk factors associated with neonatal and child mortality were reviewed in three crucial phases of pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period.

RESULTS

The review revealed economic disparity acts through various avenues of cultural belief and restrictions and is indirectly associated with care seeking behavior and utilization of health care, resulting in slow decline of child mortality rate in India. Secondly, cultural norms, practices, and beliefs are strongly associated with high neonatal mortality, contributing to the sluggish decline of overall child survival rate. Proximate determinants of child mortality, i.e., income, cultural behavior and beliefs, in multiplicity of Indian cultures, are closely associated with health seeking behavior, antenatal care, delivery practices and postnatal care of infants.

CONCLUSIONS

Apart from raising awareness among community leaders, family members responsible for care giving should be specially targeted for removal of hostile perceptions and barriers for improvement of child survival. Also there is need for developing new strategies for health education based on indigenous concerns, addressing socio-cultural barriers.

Measuring subnational under-5 mortality: lessons from a survey in the eastern Indonesian district of Ende

There is an urgent need for measurements of the magnitude and determinants of under-5 mortality at the district level in Indonesia. This article describes a sample household survey conducted in Ende District, East Nusa Tenggara province. Complete birth histories were recorded from all women residing in a sample of 32 villages (7454 households) of Ende. The survey was conducted in early 2010, deriving measures for the period 2000-2009. The survey instrument also included key variables required to measure determinants of under-5 mortality. The results showed that there are significant differentials in under-5 mortality risk within Ende, ranging from 27 to 85 per 1000. This information will assist the district health office to implement maternal and child health programs to meet national targets for United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4. The findings provide robust mortality measures at the district level and demonstrate the feasibility of conducting such a study using local resources, in a short time, and with low costs.

Inequality in access to health care in Cambodia: socioeconomically disadvantaged women giving birth at home assisted by unskilled birth attendants

Cambodia faces major challenges in its effort to provide access to health care for all. Although there is a sharp improvement in health and health care in Cambodia, 6 in 10 women still deliver at home assisted by unskilled birth attendants. This practice is associated with higher maternal and infant deaths. This article analyzes the 2005 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey data to examine the relationship between socioeconomic inequality and deliveries at home assisted by unskilled birth attendants. It is evident that babies in poorer households are significantly more likely to be delivered at home by an unskilled birth attendant than those in wealthier households. Moreover, delivery at home by an unskilled attendant is associated with mothers who have no education, live in a rural residence, and are farmers, and with higher birth order children. Results from this analysis demonstrate that socioeconomic inequality is still a major factor contributing to ill health in Cambodia.

Under-two child mortality according to maternal HIV status in Rwanda: assessing outcomes within the National PMTCT Program

INTRODUCTION

We sought to compare risk of death among children aged under-2 years born to HIV positive mother (HIV-exposed) and to HIV negative mother (HIV non-exposed), and identify determinants of under-2 mortality among the two groups in Rwanda.

METHODS

In a stratified, two-stage cluster sampling design, we selected mother-child pairs using national Antenatal Care (ANC) registers. Household interview with each mother was conducted to capture socio-demographic data and information related to pregnancy, delivery and post-partum. Data were censored at the date of child death. Using Cox proportional hazard model, we compared the hazard of death among HIV-exposed children and HIV non-exposed children.

RESULTS

Of 1,455 HIV-exposed children, 29 (2.0%; 95% CI: 1.3%-2.7%) died by 6 months compared to 18 children of the 1,565 HIV non-exposed children (1.2%; 95% CI: 0.6%-1.7%). By 9 months, cumulative risks of death were 3.0% (95%; CI: 2.2%-3.9%) and 1.3% (96%; CI: 0.7%-1.8%) among HIV-exposed and HIV non-exposed children, respectively. By 2 years, the hazard of death among HIV-exposed children was more than 3 times higher (aHR:3.5; 95% CI: 1.8-6.9) among HIV-exposed versus non-exposed children. Risk of death by 9-24 months of age was 50% lower among mothers who attended 4 or more antenatal care (ANC) visits (aHR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.9), and 26% lower among families who had more assets (aHR: 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5-1.0).

CONCLUSION

Infant mortality was independent of perinatal HIV exposure among children by 6 months of age. However, HIV-exposed children were 3.5 times more likely to die by 2 years. Fewer antenatal visits, lower household assets and maternal HIV seropositive status were associated with increased mortality by 9-24 months.

A population-based study of effect of multiple birth on infant mortality in Nigeria

Background

Multi-foetal pregnancies and multiple births including twins and higher order multiples births such as triplets and quadruplets are high-risk pregnancy and birth. These high-risk groups contribute to the higher rate of childhood mortality especially during early period of life.

Methods

We examined the relationship between multiple births and infant mortality using univariable and multivariable survival regression procedure with Weibull hazard function, controlling for child's sex, birth order, prenatal care, delivery assistance; mother's age at child birth, nutritional status, education level; household living conditions and several other risk factors.

Results

Children born multiple births were more than twice as likely to die during infancy as infants born singleton (hazard ratio = 2.19; 95% confidence interval: 1.50, 3.19) holding other factors constant. Maternal education and household asset index were associated with lower risk of infant mortality.

Conclusion

Multiple births are strongly negatively associated with infant survival in Nigeria independent of other risk factors. Mother's education played a protective role against infant death. This evidence suggests that improving maternal education may be key to improving child survival in Nigeria. A well-educated mother has a better chance of satisfying important factors that can improve infant survival: the quality of infant feeding, general care, household sanitation, and adequate use of preventive and curative health services.