Socio-demographic and environmental risk factors associated with multiple under-five child loss among mothers in Bangladesh

Rasel Kabir,Nigatu Geda,Cindy Feng,Marwa Farag,Hyun Ja Lim

doi:10.1186/s12887-021-03034-y

Abstract

BackgroundDespite the substantial decline in child mortality globally over the last decade, reducing neonatal and under-five mortality in Bangladesh remains a challenge. Mothers who experienced multiple child losses could have substantial adverse personal and public health consequences. Hence, prevention of child loss would be extremely desirable during women’s reproductive years. The main objective of this study was to determine the risk factors associated with multiple under-five child loss from the same mother in Bangladesh.MethodsIn this study, a total of 15,877 eligible women who had given birth at least once were identified from the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. A variety of count regression models were considered for identifying socio-demographic and environmental factors associated with multiple child loss measured as the number of lifetime under-five child mortality (U5M) experienced per woman.ResultsOf the total sample, approximately one-fifth (18.9%, n = 3003) of mothers experienced at least one child’s death during their reproductive period. The regression analysis results revealed that women in non-Muslim families, with smaller household sizes, with lower education, who were more advanced in their childbearing years, and from an unhygienic environment were at significantly higher risk of experiencing offspring mortality. This study also identified the J-shaped effect of age at first birth on the risk of U5M.ConclusionsThis study documented that low education, poor socio-economic status, extremely young or old age at first birth, and an unhygienic environment significantly contributed to U5M per mother. Therefore, improving women’s educational attainment and socio-economic status, prompting appropriate timing of pregnancy during reproductive life span, and increasing access to healthy sanitation are recommended as possible interventions for reducing under-five child mortality from a mother. Our findings point to the need for health policy decision-makers to target interventions for socio-economically vulnerable women in Bangladesh.

Highlights

Despite the substantial decline in child mortality globally over the last decade, reducing neonatal and under-five mortality in Bangladesh remains a challenge
Descriptive statistics The distribution of the number of Under five mortality (U5M) per mother is presented in Table 1, which shows that about 81.1% of the mothers had no U5M in their lifetime, while 3003 of 15,877 (18.9%) women reported the loss of at least one child
Respondent’s age was 32.11 ± 8.81, while the average age at first marriage was 15.66, which is lower than the legal age of 18 years

Summary

Introduction

Despite the substantial decline in child mortality globally over the last decade, reducing neonatal and under-five mortality in Bangladesh remains a challenge. One of the suggested health targets under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was to end preventable newborn deaths by lowering infant mortality to 48 per 1000 live births and under-five mortality (U5M) to 31 per 1000 live births. In Bangladesh, the infant and U5M rates were still relatively high, i.e., 38 per 1000 live births and 46 per live births, respectively (BDHS 2014, NIPORT) [2], so substantial effort is still in great need to achieve the SDGs. In Bangladesh, the infant and U5M rates were still relatively high, i.e., 38 per 1000 live births and 46 per live births, respectively (BDHS 2014, NIPORT) [2], so substantial effort is still in great need to achieve the SDGs This warrants examination of factors associated with U5M in the country to mitigate the risk of mortality and improve child survival

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion