| dc.description.abstract | This study is concerned with the investigation of the factors
that influence infant/or early childhood mortality at the macro
level. The factors investigated include the following district
level variables: per-cent women with five or more standards of
education; percent cases of malaria; hospital beds per 1000
persons; total fertility; population to health facility ratio;
per capita high potential agricultural land as a proxy for
rural income; kilometres of roads per 1000 square kilometres
as a proxy for socio-economic development; percent urban; and
population density
The investigation is divided into six chapters. Chapter
1 gives the historical background of mortality in the developing
countries, Africa and Kenya in particular Chapter 11
discusses and presents all the data utilized in this research.
Chapter 111 describes the models used in this study, Chapter
IV is the analysis of infant/or child mortality differentials
and ~heir correlates in Kenya. Chapter V examines the
relationship between infant/or child mortality and the
educational levels of mothers. Chapter VI gives a summary of
the findings, conclusions and recommendations for further studies
This is followed by appendices and references/bibliography
A multivariate analysis was used to examine the 1979
mortality differentials in Kenya by district Data for all the
variabIes by districts were gathered, and. regression was perf'ormed
on these data It was found that a significant correlation
exists between infant/or child mortality and education and
malaria variable so The results for the other
ex)
variables were rather inconclusive.
Only four out of nine variables considered explained 52.5 percent
of the variation present In the mortality index as compared to 59.4
percent explained by all the variables together. These variables were
as follows: womens education, malaria, agriculture and population
density.
The district data analysed in this study revealed that the
variations in child mortality levels by district are partly a result of
the existing educational differentials among the districts. Indeed,
inter-Y8gional differentials in mortality appeared to persist even after
controlling for differences in women's educational levels. Thus women "s
education plays a major role as a major factor in mortality decline only
All the hypothesized relationships were confirmed except for the
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