Trends in Childhood Morbidity and Mortality in the Era of Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: While there has been a steady decline in the rate of under-five mortality globally, sub-Saharan Africa still remains the region with the highest under-five mortality rate in the world, with 1 in 13 children dying before his or her fifth birthday. With the advent of the corona virus pandemic, the dynamism in the childhood morbidity pattern is certain. The objective of this study was to determine the morbidity patterns and outcomes of children seen in selected health care facilities in South-eastern Nigeria from March to October 2020. Methodology: This study was a hospital-based retrospective study carried out in some health care facilities in South-eastern Nigeria. The study instrument was hospital records which were retrieved and relevant variables were collected from the records. The study population were children who were five years and below who had been admitted in the health facilities within the past eight months, from March-October, 2020. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science version 25. Descriptive analysis was computed whereby proportion/percentages and frequency was also calculated. Result: The study found out among other childhood illnesses that; malaria, sepsis and PEM were the top three morbidities that led to hospitalization while 23.1% of children who were non-compliant with their immunization schedule, presented with bronchial pneumonia. The relationship between the age and trends in childhood illness was significant with p-value ≤0.05. Conclusion: Malaria still remains a major cause of hospitalization for children under the ages of five. Notwithstanding, the rate of admission of children into hospitals dropped significantly due to sanitary measures and awareness towards combating the spread of COVID-19 in its early days. Key words: under 5 children, pandemic, trends, childhood illnesses.

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