Statistical Analysis of Infant Mortality Rate
CHAPTER ONE
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the aims and objectives of this study;
- To measure the relationship that exists between infant mortality and live birth.
- To obtain infant mortality rate and live birth per year.
- To determine whether infant mortality rate and live birth are weak and strong correlation.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Infant mortality is one of the most important indicators of nations’ economic development. Thus, determinants of infant mortality received considerable attention from researchers of different fields like biomedical, demography and economy for a long while. These researchers investigate the impact of very different variables on infant mortality. As Wolpin (1997) claims, this is mostly due to the difficulties in determining the variables to be included in the model and partly due to the data limitations used in the studies. Under-five mortality rate (5q0) represents the probability of a child who survives to age one, dying between age one and age five (Adlakha & Suchindra, 1984; National Population Commission [NPopC] and ICF Macro, 2009; World Health Organisation [WHO], 2011). Almost half of the child mortality (42%) in the world occurs in Africa and about 25,000 under-five children that die each day are concentrated in subSaharan Africa and South Asia (WHO, 2011). Under-five mortality rate (U5MR) is generally 29 times higher in developing nations compared to developed countries (Black & Liu, 2012; Gambrah & Adzadu, 2013; Marx, Coles, PrysonesJones, Johnson, Augustin, Mackay, Bery, Hammond, Nigmann, Sommerfelt et al, 2005). Globally, under-five mortality has dropped significantly by almost 45 percent between 2009 and 2011 but this progress is not the reality for all countries. Despite much progress in advanced countries, Nigeria has failed to make significant progress in checking the rising mortality rate among the under-five. Currently, about half of the world’s under-five deaths occur in Nigeria, India, Congo, Pakistan and China (National Bureau of Statistics [NBS], 2011; World Bank, 2013). Statistics revealed that up to 20 per cent of child deaths in subSaharan Africa still occur in Nigeria. Also, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS4) report indicated that under-five mortality in Nigeria increased from 138 per 1,000 live births in 2007 to 158 per 1,000 live births in 2011 (National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 2011; World Bank, 2013).
Under-five mortality rates within Africa also vary. In some countries, one quarter to one-third of children die before reaching the age of five. Also, within the under-five age group, there are specific periods of increased vulnerability. For instance, 60 percent of under-five mortality can be attributed to deaths that occur during the first year of life, of which the first 24 hours of life is the most vulnerable period, followed by the first week and then the first month (Marx et al, 2005). Among the suspected factors that have contributed to drastic reduction of under-5 mortality in advanced economies include but not limited to improvement in socio-economic and environmental conditions and strategic implementation of child survival interventions (Finlay, Ozaltin & Canning, 2011; Kyei, 2011; United Nations Children’s Fund, 2010, 2011, 2012).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The proposed methodology of estimation is based on simple regression approach built by Mojekwu and Ajilola (2011). The methodology of estimation developed here follows the usual path of establishing the relationships between the dependent variable, which in this case is the infant and child mortality rate and the independent variables, herein identified as; mothers educational level, and the status of the mother. Several empirical studies show almost a linear relationship between the dependent variable of infant mortality rate and the independent variables which are mother’s educational level, and the status of the mother. Therefore, it was decided to fit a regression model of type using:
IMR = β0 + β1MEL + β2MST……………….(1)
Where IMR = Infant Mortality Rates; MEL denotes Mother’s Educational Status; MST denotes Mother’s Status.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Descriptive Statistics
Table 1 shows that a total of 4824 (that is, 43 percent) of a total of 11,219 mothers had no formal education. Only 15 percent had primary education, while 25 percent had secondary education. 17 percent of the total respondents had a tertiary education. This clearly indicates that literacy among mothers in Nigeria is still very much below expected, which of course will reduce the level at which the mothers get themselves acquainted with the needed healthcare during and after pregnancy.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The objectives of this study have been to assess and analyze infant mortality issues in Nigeria. It specifically aimed at measuring the relationship that exists between infant mortality and live birth; to obtain infant mortality rate and live birth per year; to determine whether infant mortality rate and live birth are weak and strong correlation. It is therefore fitting to conclude from the findings of this study that first; the educational attainment of women in Nigeria is very low. This actually has increased the likelihood of them marrying early and as a result, they start to bear children early in life. The lack of requisite education by women have reduced their chances of receiving prenatal and post natal care and have their birth attended to by qualified medical personnel. This is in consonance with the findings of Asakitikpi (2008) who opined that better health has a positive effect on the learning attitude and abilities of children and leads to better educational outcomes. He stated further that babies born to young mothers are more likely to be premature, have low birth weights and suffers from complications at the time of delivery.
The study has also helped us to know that the more women participate in decision making in the house, the better for them and the family at large. This is particularly more important when it comes to decisions regarding her health care. As mothers participates more in decisions regarding her health matters, the lesser the rate of infant and child mortality. Therefore, mothers should be allowed to at least have a say on matters relating to their health, this will give opportunity not only to divulge their real state of health to the doctors or other health professionals but also to participate in health procedures they feel is compatible to their body system.
REFERENCES
- Adebayo and Fahrmeir (2002) “Analyzing Child Mortality in Nigeria with Geoadditive Survival Models” Sanderforschungsbereich 386, Paper 303.
- Asakitikpi, A. (2008) “Born to Die: Ogbanje Phenomenon and its Implication on Childhood Mortality in Southern Nigeria” Anthropologist, 10(1); 59-63.
- DFID (2006) “Safety Nets for the Poor and Equitable Health Care Financing” Nigeria Partnership for Transforming Health Systems.
- Fox, J (2012) “Public Health, Poor Relief and Improving Urban Child Mortality Outcomes in the Decade Prior to the New Deal. MPIDR Working Paper WP 2011-005.
- Fox, J (2012) “Public Health, Poor Relief and Improving Urban Child Mortality Outcomes in the Decade Prior to the New Deal. MPIDR Working Paper WP 2011-005.
- Freire, C and Kajiura, N. (2011) “Impact of Health Expenditure on Achieving the Health-Related MDGs” MPDD Working Papers Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division.
- Guo, G. A., and G. Rodriguez. 1992. Estimating a Multivariate Proportional Hazards Model for Clustered Data Using the Em Algorithm, with an Application to Child Survival in Guatemala. Journal of the American Statistical Association 87 (420):969-976.
- Gurel, S. A., and H. Gurel. 1995. Gebelik Aralığı, Doğum Aralığı ve Sağlıklı Gebelik Perinatoloji Dergisi 3 (3):22-24.
- Gursoy-Tezcan, A. 1992. Infant mortality: a Turkish puzzle? Health Transit Rev 2 (2):131-149.
- Hao C (1990) “An Analysis of Discrepancies in China’s Child Mortality Rate” China Journal of Population Studies
- Hobcraft, J. 1993. Women’s education, child welfare and child survival: a review of the evidence. Health Transit Rev 3 (2):159-175.
- Hobcraft, J. N., J. W. McDonald, and S. O. Rutstein. 1984. Socio-economic factors in infant and child mortality: a cross-national comparison. Popul Stud (Camb) 38:193-223.
- Hong, R., V. Mishra, and J. Michael. 2007. Economic Disparity and Child Survival in Cambodia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 19 (2):37-44.
- Ibeh C (2008) “Is Poor Maternal Mortality Index in Nigeria a Problem of Health Care Utilization? A Case Study of Anambra State AFR. J Record, 12(1): 132-140
- Jain, A. K. 1985. Determinants of Regional Variations in Infant-Mortality in Rural India. Population Studies-a Journal of Demography 39 (3):407-424.
- Jatrana, S. 1999. Determinants and differentials of infant mortality in Mewat Region of Haryana State, India. Thesis (Ph D), Australian National University, 1999.
