| dc.description.abstract | The study attempts to examine whether the determinants responsible lor infant and child
mortality in the High mortality zone are the same as those affecting child survival in a
low mortality zone. Nyanza and Western provinces were taken to represent the former
while the three provinces of central, Nairobi and Rift-valley represents the latter.
or when-the dates were found to be inconsistent.
The study adopted the Mosley and Chen analytical framework for studying child survival
in developing countries. The secondary data used was derived from the birth histories in
the Kenya Demographic and healthy survey (KDHS, 1998), in which a detailed
questionnaire was designed to elicit information about each child ever born, whether dead
or alive. If dead, the age at death was also given. There co~ have been the problem of
women respondents recalling exactly at what age the child died. However, this problem
was overcome by imputing dates. This was done especially when the full date of the
event was not provided by the respondent
A sub-sample of 8061 births out of the total 2335 I from the 1998 KDHS was used lor
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analysis. In order to assess the relationship between the dependent variable and
independent variables, cross- tabulation was used. Regression analysis was used to
ascertain the effect of predictor variables on the risk of infant and chilJ death in the study
areas.
The independent variables selected for the study were maternal education, mothers
occupation, age of the mother and preceding birth interval.
Type of toilet facility, housing floor material, and source of drinking water supply were
also included. The cultural variables included ethnicity and religion.
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The assumption of the study was that the factors responsible for the mortality levels seen
in each of the mortality region were similar given the fact that the regions were adjacent
to each other.
The major findings of the study was that although mothers occupation was found to be
significantly associated with the risk of infa~ death in the low mortality region, it was
not observed to not to be significantly associated with infant mortality in the high
mortality region. It was similarly observed that preceding birth intervals and maternal
education were important determinants of infant mortality in the high mortality region.
The results indicated that the type of toilet facility, maternal age, source of drinking
water, main floor material, mother's age at first birth, religion and cthnicity were not
significantly associated with infant death in both mortality regions.
Mother's occupation was found to have a significant relationship with child mortality in
both regions. Preceding birth interval was found to be significant in the high mortality
region as was the type of toilet facility in the low mortality region.
it is recommended that free or subsidized education at secondary level be provided
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especially for girls in the high mortality region and policies geared towards increasing the
length of intervals between births are initiated. In the low mortality region, the
government in conjunction with non-governmental organizations should help initiate
appropriate toilet facilities especially in the slum areas. Similarly, favorable policies
should be drawn in an effort to enhance women's financia! and occupational status. | en |
