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Factors Influencing Mortality Under the Age of Five in Ethiopia

Received: 25 December 2023    Accepted: 6 January 2024    Published: 18 January 2024
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Abstract

One important measure of a nation's level of development is its under-five mortality (U5M) rate. Notwithstanding notable reductions in the U5M rate, around 5.6 million children worldwide still pass away before turning five each year. According to the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) report, 67 children out of every 1,000 live births passed away before turning five years old. This study used data from the EDHS in 2016 to investigate factors associated with U5M in Ethiopia. The EDHS 2016 provided the information and 10,641 under-five children in total, weighted, were included in this study. Tables and graphs were used in the completion and reporting of descriptive statistics. To find important variables influencing U5M, a multi-level hurdle negative binomial model with an additional random effect was fitted. The following were found to be statistically significant factors for U5M in Ethiopia: maternal education status, place of delivery, husband/partners' educational status, place of residence, household wealth index, birth type, preceding birth interval, number of under-five children, sex of child, age of mother at first birth, source of drinking water, immunization coverage, child diarrhea status, ANC and PNC visits, and use of contraceptives. According to the findings, improving female education chances, resolving regional differences, and encouraging mothers to give birth in medical facilities would all have a significant role in reducing the burden of U5M. Furthermore, the results of this study support the idea that implementing multi-sectoral interventions to enhance access to drinking water, prenatal and postnatal care, spacing of births, child immunization programs, and contraceptive use will significantly lower Ethiopia's rates of U5M in the future. Policymakers and health planners should prioritize addressing preventable factors for under-five mortality in order to curtail and meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for under-five mortality in Ethiopia.

Published in World Journal of Public Health (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13
Page(s) 17-27
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Under-Five Children, Mortality, Multilevel Count Regression Analysis, EDHS 2016

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    Gagabo, S. Y. (2024). Factors Influencing Mortality Under the Age of Five in Ethiopia. World Journal of Public Health, 9(1), 17-27. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13

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    Gagabo, S. Y. Factors Influencing Mortality Under the Age of Five in Ethiopia. World J. Public Health 2024, 9(1), 17-27. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13

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    Gagabo SY. Factors Influencing Mortality Under the Age of Five in Ethiopia. World J Public Health. 2024;9(1):17-27. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13,
      author = {Sisay Yohannes Gagabo},
      title = {Factors Influencing Mortality Under the Age of Five in Ethiopia},
      journal = {World Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {17-27},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20240901.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjph.20240901.13},
      abstract = {One important measure of a nation's level of development is its under-five mortality (U5M) rate. Notwithstanding notable reductions in the U5M rate, around 5.6 million children worldwide still pass away before turning five each year. According to the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) report, 67 children out of every 1,000 live births passed away before turning five years old. This study used data from the EDHS in 2016 to investigate factors associated with U5M in Ethiopia. The EDHS 2016 provided the information and 10,641 under-five children in total, weighted, were included in this study. Tables and graphs were used in the completion and reporting of descriptive statistics. To find important variables influencing U5M, a multi-level hurdle negative binomial model with an additional random effect was fitted. The following were found to be statistically significant factors for U5M in Ethiopia: maternal education status, place of delivery, husband/partners' educational status, place of residence, household wealth index, birth type, preceding birth interval, number of under-five children, sex of child, age of mother at first birth, source of drinking water, immunization coverage, child diarrhea status, ANC and PNC visits, and use of contraceptives. According to the findings, improving female education chances, resolving regional differences, and encouraging mothers to give birth in medical facilities would all have a significant role in reducing the burden of U5M. Furthermore, the results of this study support the idea that implementing multi-sectoral interventions to enhance access to drinking water, prenatal and postnatal care, spacing of births, child immunization programs, and contraceptive use will significantly lower Ethiopia's rates of U5M in the future. Policymakers and health planners should prioritize addressing preventable factors for under-five mortality in order to curtail and meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for under-five mortality in Ethiopia.
    },
     year = {2024}
    }
    

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    AB  - One important measure of a nation's level of development is its under-five mortality (U5M) rate. Notwithstanding notable reductions in the U5M rate, around 5.6 million children worldwide still pass away before turning five each year. According to the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) report, 67 children out of every 1,000 live births passed away before turning five years old. This study used data from the EDHS in 2016 to investigate factors associated with U5M in Ethiopia. The EDHS 2016 provided the information and 10,641 under-five children in total, weighted, were included in this study. Tables and graphs were used in the completion and reporting of descriptive statistics. To find important variables influencing U5M, a multi-level hurdle negative binomial model with an additional random effect was fitted. The following were found to be statistically significant factors for U5M in Ethiopia: maternal education status, place of delivery, husband/partners' educational status, place of residence, household wealth index, birth type, preceding birth interval, number of under-five children, sex of child, age of mother at first birth, source of drinking water, immunization coverage, child diarrhea status, ANC and PNC visits, and use of contraceptives. According to the findings, improving female education chances, resolving regional differences, and encouraging mothers to give birth in medical facilities would all have a significant role in reducing the burden of U5M. Furthermore, the results of this study support the idea that implementing multi-sectoral interventions to enhance access to drinking water, prenatal and postnatal care, spacing of births, child immunization programs, and contraceptive use will significantly lower Ethiopia's rates of U5M in the future. Policymakers and health planners should prioritize addressing preventable factors for under-five mortality in order to curtail and meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for under-five mortality in Ethiopia.
    
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Author Information
  • Department of Statistics, Bonga University, Bonga, Ethiopia

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