Abstract
Background: Women’s literacy is often associated with the health status of family members, especially children. Unfortunately, in some regions of Southeast Asia, the rates of women’s literacy are still very low, and in these areas, children’s mortality rates are also very high. This study aims to identify the association of women's literacy and children’s mortality rates among countries in the Southeast Asian region from 2015 to 2019. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, children’s mortality rates were defined as mortality rates in newborns and under-fives. Besides women’s literacy (WL), we also assessed the Human Development Index (HDI), Freedom Status (FS), Government Effectiveness (GE), and the proportion of births assisted by skilled health staff (BASHS) as the independent variables in this study. First, we describe the profiles of WL as well as newborn and under-five mortality rates among 11 countries in Southeast Asia from 2015 to 2019, and then we assess the correlations. Results: Between 2015 to 2019, Myanmar, Lao, and Timor-Leste had the highest child mortality rates. In addition, these four countries were the countries with the lowest WL rates compared to other countries. Children’s mortality rates were significantly associated with WL, GE, HDI, and BASHS. Meanwhile, this study found that the FS of a country was not significantly associated with the children’s mortality rate of countries in the Southeast Asia region. Conclusion: This study found that there’s an indication that the better the WL rate, as well as the governance, the HDI, and maternity services in a country, the lower its children’s mortality rates. Therefore, improvement in multiple sectors such as governance, economy, health system, education, and gender equality is required to help countries in this region achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals target by 2030.
Highlights
The under-five mortality rate declined by 59% between 1999 and 2018; from 93 deaths per 1000 live births to 39 per 1000 live births.[1]
This study found that women’s literacy has an immense contribution in declining the infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR) and can help in improving the health status of both women and children.[5]
The under-five mortality rate (UFMR) refers to the probability of a child born in a specific year or period dying before reaching the age of five and is defined as a probability of death derived from a life table and expressed as a rate per 1000 live births
Summary
The under-five mortality rate declined by 59% between 1999 and 2018; from 93 deaths per 1000 live births to 39 per 1000 live births.[1]. This number needs to be improved as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target for 2030 is to reduce preventable under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births Achieving this goal becomes more challenging as most under-five mortality occurs in low and lower-middleincome countries, especially countries within Africa and South Asia,[1,2] where children’s health can be affected by several factors such as healthcare service quality, family wealth status, and social status, including mother's education level.[3]. This study found that women’s literacy has an immense contribution in declining the infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR) and can help in improving the health status of both women and children.[5]. This study aims to identify the association of women's literacy and children’s mortality rates among countries in the Southeast Asian region from 2015 to 2019. Improvement in multiple sectors such as governance, economy, health system, education, and gender equality is required version 2 (revision)
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