| dc.description.abstract | This study was based on the fact that neonatal mortality has
continued to persist in this country despite the introduction of
maternal and child health care p.roqr amme s ,and also on the fact
that a large percentage of infant deaths are realised in the
neonatal period. This study therefore has the general objective of
examining the demographic, socio-economic, socio-cul tural,
environmental and medical factors that correlate with neonatal
deaths.
The specific objectives of the study was to examine the
relationship between age of mother,birth interval, parity, sex of
baby, the educational level attained, marital status, husbands
occupation, mothers occupation, antenatal clinic attendance,
tetanus injection in pregnancy, antenatal care, delivery care,
source of drinking water, region of residence, breast feeding
status, religion, ethnicity and birth weight. The dependent
variables in the study are neonatal deaths and neonatal survivors.
The KDHS data of 1993 was used in this study. It was based on
the National Sample Survey and Evaluation Programme (NASSEP 3). The
sample was national in scope although some districts in Rift Valley
and North Eastern province were excluded. The master sample
followed a two stage design stratified by Urban rural residence and
within the rural stratum, by individual district. A total of 8805
households were selected and out of which 7540 women were
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interviewed. The household and the female questionnaire were used
to obtain information that was selected to be used in this study.
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Since the information was retrospective, the data is therefore
likely to suffer from cases of underreporting particularly of
neonatal deaths.
Methods of Data analysis include the use of cross-tabulation
to determine the relative frequency of women at risk of having
neonatal deaths.The chi-square test is therefore applied to
determine whether the observed frequencies of --neonatal deaths are
significant in relation to the total number of births that occurred
to women in the sample population. Logistic regression analysis is
used in this study to measure the effect of the independent
variables on the depended variables.
Resul ts of the chi-square tests showed that maternal age,
marital status, parity, preceding birth interval, tetanus injection
in pregnancy, antenatal clinic attendance, birth weight, mothers
occupation, antenatal and delivery care by doctor, place of
delivery, type of toilet facility, source of drinking water and
type of floor material were significantly related to neonatal
deaths.In the logistic regression results, age of the mother,
residence in Rift Valley, marital status and birth interval were
found to reduce neonatal mortality rates .However antenatal clinic
attendance by the doctor increased risks of neonatal deaths by 48%
while fathers occupation increased risks of neonatal deaths by
43%.
other factors did not show any significant relationship with
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neonatal deaths.
The findings of the study led to recommendations that there
should be regular antenatal clinics for expectant mothers to enable
early detection of any complication of pregnancy.Maternity services
need to be expanded in order to cater for all expectant mothers.
That the expectant women should also ensure that they are booked at
a maternity hospital well in advance to guard/gains emergency
admissions which in most cases may be fatal. With regard to further
study, a research ought to be undertaken to determine the effect of
socio-cultural factors on neonatal mortality. The beliefs, practices
and nutrition of specific ethnic groups in relation to neonatal
deaths ought to be studied. | en |
