Abstract
A number of discussions on mortality or survival patterns of under-five children in Nigeria have been presented in the literature over years, most of which were characterized by descriptive analysis, in which facts were reported by percentages, ratio and measures of association to mention a few. In this study, binary logistic regression model was employed to model the survival status (dead or alive) of under-five children in Nigeria as a function of some socio-demographic variables. Results from this study revealed that ten socio-demographic variables among several others were significantly associated with the survivals of under-five children in Nigeria. Specifically, the results showed that children that were born in urban area, that were exclusively breastfed, that were among the first four children in the family, whose mothers have secondary education and post-secondary education have significant increased odds, to about 27%, 580%, 20%, 22% and 102% respectively, of surviving beyond age five than their counterparts in the reference categories of the above identified risk factors (odds ratio is 1.271(p < 0.0001 for urban), 6.810 (p<0.0001 for breastfeeding), 1.197 (p < 0.0001 for birth order), 1.225 (p = 0.001 for secondary education) and 2.023 (p < 0.0001 for higher education)). Results from this work indicated that more enlightenment program is required to stem the alarming increase in under-five mortality rate in Nigeria which currently stood at 112%. Data set from Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) report for 2008 was employed in this study.
Highlights
Under-five children mortality has been given greater attention globally and as a result, under-five mortality rate has reduced drastically, especially in the developed nations
According to Nigeria Demographic and Health survey (NDHS), 1990, 87 per 1000 infants born in Nigeria die before their first birthday while 115 per 1000 under-five children deaths was reported [4], [2]
In 1999 NDHS, an infant mortality rate of 75 deaths per 1000 live births and 140 per 1000 under-five mortality rate were estimated for the period of 1995 – 1999 [5]
Summary
Under-five children mortality has been given greater attention globally and as a result, under-five mortality rate has reduced drastically, especially in the developed nations. It’s awful to note, that despite the efforts and huge funds voted by Nigeria government, foreign agencies and NGO’s on immunization and other interventions, to reduction the under-five mortality rate in the country [7], [8], there has been no significant improvement in the underfive survival in Nigeria This might be due to not paying maximum attention to some socio-demographic factors like Mother’s education, Birth control, Place of resident and host of others that are hindrance to the survival of under-five children. As against many of the previous study on under-five children mortality whose reports are merely percentages, ratios and measures of association, our concern in the present study is to be able to quantify the effects of these factors (Socio-Demographic factors) on under-five survival by modeling of under-five survival as a function of some Socio-Demographic variables
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
