Survival Analysis Of Children Under Five Years Research Paper (Research Paper Sample)

SURVIVAL ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My sincere gratitude to my supervisors. To my classmates for being friends and colleagues throughout the course. To my parents, guardians, and our siblings for their unwavering love, financial, and moral support.
CHAPTER ONE: introductioN
1.1 Background
Under-five mortality is a crucial indicator of the state of the public health of a society. Globally, it is estimated that 5.6 million children below the age of five years died in 2016 (WHO, 2014). The top five countries which account for a large proportion of the deaths are China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than one million under-five deaths occur in India per year (Vakili, 2015). It is indeed unfortunate that 25% of the world’s deaths of children below five years occur in Africa (Liu, 2015) . At 81 deaths per 1000 live births, the Sub Saharan region has the highest burden of under-five mortality in the world. Europe, on the other hand, has the lowest at 11 deaths per 1000 live births. Moreover, the country with the highest under-five mortality rate in the world in Angola at 167 deaths per 1000 live births (Alkema, 2016).
The most vulnerable period of a child's life is the first 28 days. An estimated 2.6 million neonatal deaths occur every year, and approximately the same number are stillbirths (WHO, Indicators of public health, 2014). Although under-five mortality is declining globally, the proportion of neonatal deaths is rising. Between 1990 and 2014, the neonatal mortality rate reduced from 33 to 20 deaths per 1000 live births (UNICEF, 2014). Currently, neonatal deaths account for 44% of all under-five deaths (UNICEF, 2014).
From the 2014 KDHS, the infant mortality rate stands at 39 deaths per 1000 live births, while the under-five mortality is 52 deaths per 1000 live births. Although in the ten years preceding the 2014 KDHS, the under-five mortality rate declined, the neonatal mortality rate exhibited a lower percentage reduction compared to the infant mortality rate. The under-five mortality rate, however, varies across the different regions in the country. Nyanza region has the highest mortality rate, which is approximately twice that of the central part. Nairobi, on the other hand, an urban area whose majority of residents live in the informal settlement have the second-highest under-five mortality rate in the country at 72 deaths per 1000 live births (KNBS, 2015).
In Taita Taveta County, the mortality rate of children under-five has shown signs of declining but is still high. In 1979 it was about 99 deaths per 1000 live births, which dropped to 85 deaths per 1000 live births in 1988 (Kichamu, 2016). The high mortality rate may be attributed to low social-economic development. This study is designed to look at some of the social-economic and demographic factors that affect child mortality in the District.