Maternal Education Household’s Wealth and Child Mortality in Rural Nigeria

Ashagidigbi Waheed M,Ogunniyi Adebayo I,Adewumi Oluwatosin B,Olagunju Kehinde O

doi:10.18314/jnb.v4i2.1347

Abstract

Poverty, maternal literacy and child mortality has been a policy issue in Nigeria, most especially in rural areas.Studies have established their individual effects on households. However, the need to establish the link between the three welfare indicators is of great economic and social importance. The study aimed at investigating the linkage and effect of maternal education and household wealth on incidence of child mortality in rural Nigeria. The study made use of data obtained from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS2013). Logit, probit and Principal Component Analysis models were the analytical techniques adopted. The findings revealed that mothers residing in the north-west recorded the highest percentage of no formal education (54%). Also, asset deprivation (poverty rate) is 63%, though higher in the northern divide than in the south. About 44 percent of the rural households recorded child mortality, with north-west households having the highest. The results revealed that maternal education improves households’ wealth; also, households with low level of maternal education and wealth index have the likelihood of recording higher child mortality rate in rural Nigeria. If the Sustainable Development Goals of ending extreme poverty, achieving good health, and ensuring gender equality in relation to female education are to be achieved, maternal human capital development and households’ welfare improvement should be the areas of focus in rural Nigeria.

Highlights

Child mortality remains a reference indicator for measuring the standard of living, development or wellbeing of a society, as well as the future workforce of a country or a nation
Following the concession reached by nations of the world to reduce child mortality as contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), efforts to improve child health in the developing world have recently become one of the major targets of national governments and international organizations, [2]
Due to the issues raised, the following research questions were answered in this study; what is the distribution of maternal education in rural Nigeria? What is the distribution of household’s wealth like in rural Nigeria? What is the extent of child mortality in rural Nigeria? How does maternal education and households’ wealth reduce child mortality in rural Nigeria? The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of maternal education and household wealth on child mortality in rural Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

Child mortality remains a reference indicator for measuring the standard of living, development or wellbeing of a society, as well as the future workforce of a country or a nation. Throughout the past two decades, a number of strategies were proposed and implemented in order to reduce child mortality and improve child health in developing nations. Some of these strategies include improving health care financing, improving access to healthcare, increasing educational level and most importantly efforts to reduce poverty. Despite all these efforts, under-five and infant mortality rates still remain high in many developing nations. Childhood mortality remains significantly high in subSaharan African countries. It is estimated that 7 million children under the age of five died in 2011

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Conclusion