Rate and Causes of Infant Mortality
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the causes of infant mortality in Nigeria
- To ascertain the rate of infant mortality in Nigeria
- To find solution to the causes of infant mortality in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Mortality
Mortality (Death) according to World Health Organization (W.H.O) is the absence of all traces of life at any time after birth. These can also be referred to as nonfunctionally of all parts or the whole body after birth. Mortality is the risk of dying in a given year, measured by death rate. In the entire universe, lately, there are thousands of people that die due to one cause or the other. If these causes of death are not noticed, recognized and given proper attention, we may not know the exact causes of various deaths per hour. The best way to do this and make recommendation is to apply statistical techniques to extract the information as it relates to the population or sample of interest. In fant death can simply be described as the death of a child before its first birthday while child mortality can be described as death of a child aged between one and five years. Demographers have for a long time been interested in the study of infant and child mortality, which can be classified as one of the components of population fluctuation. Child mortality is an important indicator of a country’s overall health condition; these statistics the population and health programs and policies, as well as contributes to population projections of a country or a group of people. Childhood mortality statistics also help identify specific populations that are prone to health risk. Some measures of childhood mortality used by demographers in demographic health survey (DHS) are as follows:
Neonatal Mortality: the probability of dying within the first month of life. Post Natal Mortality: The difference between infant and neonatal mortality.
Infant mortality: The probability of dying before the first birthday
Under-five Mortality:
The probability of dying before the fifth birthday. In centuries past, quite a number of countries experienced downward trend in child mortality rates, but, the timing and space of the decline differs substantially. Absolute decline in child mortality began of recent in Europe, North America and Japan continued slowly throughout the twentieth century.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to rate and causes of infant mortality
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information rate and causes of infant mortality. 200 staffs of ministry of health, Ibadan was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
Sample and sampling procedure
Sample is the set people or items which constitute part of a given population sampling. Due to large size of the target population, the researcher used the Taro Yamani formula to arrive at the sample population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain rate and causes of infant mortality
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of rate and causes of infant mortality
Summary
This study was on rate and causes of infant mortality. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the causes of infant mortality in Nigeria, to ascertain the rate of infant mortality in Nigeria and to find solution to the causes of infant mortality in Nigeria. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of ministry of health, Ibadan. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up directors, doctors, nurses and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Infants from teenage mothers had higher risk of death. Maternal school attainment of secondary and above was associated with lower risk of infant death, but primary school attainment was not. Our data does not support the survival advantage of infants born health facilities. The common causes of infant deaths were neonatal infections and prematurity. Our findings suggest for the need to strengthen the newborn care, and empower teenagers to delay teenage pregnancy and attain higher levels of education
Recommendation
We recommend further studies on the absence of survival advantage in infants born in health care facilities, reported in this study.
References
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