Survival probability and predictors for woman experience childhood death in Nigeria: “analysis of north–south differentials”

Abstract

BackgroundChildhood mortality rate is high in Nigeria. There is dearth of information on the comparison of childhood mortality probability and its causal factors in the Northern and Southern Nigeria. This study was designed to fill these gaps.MethodsNigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 2008 data was used. The first part of this study focused on women aged 15–49 who ever given birth to a child (n = 23,404), irrespective of the survival status of the child and the second part utilized all women aged 15–49 (N = 33,385). The outcome variable was experienced childhood mortality. Data was analyzed using Chi-square, logistic regression and Brass logit model.ResultsResults showed that similar patterns of children’s death were observed in the two regions, but variation existed. Childhood mortality experienced was more pronounced in the North than the South, even when the potential confounding variables were used as control. Levels of education and wealth index showed an inverse relationship with childhood death in the regions (p < 0.05). The gap in childhood mortality experienced between the poorest and richest was wider in the North than the South. There was no significant difference in the risk of childhood mortality experienced by women in the urban and rural areas in the North (p > 0.05), but the difference was significant in the South (p < 0.05). The life-table mortality levels were lower in the North than the South, an indication of higher previous childhood mortality experience in the North than in the South. Across all childhood ages, the smoothed childhood mortality probabilities were consistently higher in the North than the South.ConclusionChildhood mortality is higher in the Northern than Southern Nigeria. Improving women’s education, particularly in the North will alleviate childhood mortality in Nigeria.

Childhood mortality and its association with household wealth in rural and semi-urban Burkina Faso

“…[9][10][11]13 Contrary to the present results, Ettarh and Kimani found that in the rural area in Kenya, household poverty had a significant effect on under-5 mortality, but there was no effect in the urban centers. 17 Other studies showed significant effects of wealth-related variables, such as piped water and ownership of bicycle, radio or tin roof, on infant and child mortality.…”

“…[8][9][10] The strength of the association between household wealth and child mortality depends on the research setting. Several studies showed strong and significant effects of household wealth on child mortality, [11][12][13] while other studies did not detect such effects. [14][15][16] A study from Kenya observed a strong effect of household wealth on child mortality in the rural areas but no effect was shown for children in the urban areas.…”

Maternal Health Care Services Access Index and Infant Survival in Nigeria

“…The socio-demographic factors influencing infant death are well established in the literature (20,21,22,23,24,25). The infant mortality rate is also a result of ample variety of health and environmental factors such as the child and maternal nutritional status, maternal health knowledge, level of immunization against childhood diseases, income and dietary intake during pregnancy, accessibility to portable water and basic sanitation, etc (26,27 , and birth attendance (None=0, traditional birth attendance=1, unskilled health workers=2, Skilled professionals=3), thus, producing maximum overall score of 11 and 0 as the minimum.…”

Factors explaining the North–South differentials in contraceptive use in Nigeria: A nonlinear decomposition analysis

“…By and large, the prevailing sociopolitical, economic, cultural, and religious differences have translated to varying health care seeking behaviors and demand for health care services in the North and South of Nigeria. The consequence is that maternal and child health indicators are worse off in the northern states compared to the southern states National Population Commission and ICF International 2014;Adebowale, Yusuf, and Fagbamigbe 2012;Bankole et al 2009). …”