Assessing sex differences in childhood mortality

This paper tests a set of child health care indicators for predicting disparity, with applications to data from DLHS II (2002-04) and III (2006-07). The Index of Disparity (ID), has been used to compare several dimensions of child health care including breastfeeding, immunization and treatment received when ill. The ID is used to examine trends in disparity across states over time. Disparity is highest for children breastfed within one hour of birth (109.17 %) and the least for treatment sought for acute respiratory infection (ARI) (5.75 %) for the period 2002-04, followed by the period 2006-07 with change in magnitude. Across states, ID per child health care indicator varies. In Karnataka, the highest ID is among Vitamin-A receivers (19.4 %) and the least for treatment received when ill from ARI (10.2 %). In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh breastfeeding has been found with highest disparity and the least among Vitamin-A receivers (7.5 %) and treatment sought for Diarrhea (17.2 %). The ID simplifies to understand the variations and the need to emphasize on an approach to solve child health care problems.

Mortality occurring during the first year of life is sensitive to the living conditions and health population. In Argentina, infant mortality (IM) has declined during the twentieth century but it varies considerably by geographic region. In that sense, the reality of the northwestern provinces of Argentina, a region postponed, hides in a country-level. Some authors (2009) claim that the Northern is the poorest region, and they also point that this has not undergone a significant change in recent decades (Bolsi, Longhi, & Paolasso, 2009).
We aim to perform spatial analysis of IM at a county level of that region during 2005 and 2010 detecting the existence of high risk areas which is essential to focus public policies. We use official information on vital statistics of Argentina calculated according to the causes of death, age and sex; we process data in free GIS software. Given spatial analysis of health conditions, can be a valuable tool in assessing the impact of social structures and processes, in determining health events (Barcellos, 2003), what we propose would be a major contribution to targeting and strengthening public policies aimed at reducing IM.

This paper focused on the maternal characteristics on neonatal mortality in Uttar Pradesh. Data have been used from the District Levels Household Survey (2007-08). To calculate the neonatal mortality from DLHS-III data, exposure event (47 months) analysis was carried out. Logistic regression analysis is conducted to get odds ratio of survival of neonatal. From multivariate analysis we found that neonatal mortality is higher among low education of mother and lower income household. Distance of health facility also has negative impact on neonatal mortality. Mothers who received Tetanus injections have 15% lower risk of newborns. Babies born in household with highest wealth quintile family have 21% less chances of death. Neonates whose mothers have received antenatal care during pregnancy had 21% lower chances of mortality. Results suggests that certain socioeconomic factors like mothers education, caste, household wealth, residence and lack of health facility in village have significant impact on neonatal mortality.

In the slums of Nairobi, like elsewhere in Africa, children whose mothers were never married or divorced face a significantly higher risk of dying than children whose parents are married. Drawing on both qualitative and longitudinal quantitative data from two informal settlements in Nairobi, this study explores possible causal mechanisms, paying particular attention to the importance of poverty. We find that children living in the wealthiest households are 22% less likely to have a single mother than children residing in the poorest households. In-depth interviews support these findings and reveal the daily struggles single mothers face in meeting their children’s basic needs. However, in contrast to studies from Western societies, we find little evidence that poverty is the missing link explaining the increased risk of mortality among children of single mothers. Instead, we contend that limited support from fathers, coupled with isolation from kin and discrimination from neighbors render these children particularly vulnerable.

This paper re-examines the relationship between maternal employment and child survival in India. It examines differences in survival to age five between children of working and non-working mothers. Also, it examines which aspects of maternal employment (e.g. work location or occupational category) are more relevant to understanding child survival. Data come from India’s National Family Health Survey. Formation of comparison groups (e.g. non-working vs. working mothers) is aided by propensity score matching, and differences between matched groups in child survival are estimated through survival analysis. In urban areas, results show higher risk of dying for children of working mothers as compared to children of non-working mothers. No similar relationship was found in rural areas. Also, results show that some aspects of employment increase the risk of mortality more than other: working at home (but not away from home) or working in low-status occupation is associated with increased risk of child mortality.

Millennium Development Goals has also targeted to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate by 30 per 1000 live births and improve the child health. In India, Infant Mortality has declined substantially during the last decade but at the same time, a large number of children suffer from various early childhood morbidities. Child health is a major public-health challenge and social-welfare problem. Using the data from 60th round of NSS, this paper tries to examine the prevalence of childhood morbidity among children in the age group 0-4 years and their sought treatment. The household economic burden in the treatment of these diseases was assessed by calculating various direct and indirect costs.
The results indicate that the incidence of hospitalization was higher among male child, compared to female child. Diarrhea/Dysentery and Respiratory including ear/nose/throat was the most common problem for which children took treatment both as inpatient and outpatient and about three fourth children had sought treatment from private hospitals.

Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, is currently experiencing rapid population growth. Since 2008, the Ouagadougou Health and Demographic Surveillance System follows 80,000 people living in five neighborhoods on the periphery of the city, half of them living in poor, informal settlements. In this analysis, we study the social disparities characterizing the risk of dying before age five in these areas as well as the social differentials of associated risk factors. We find that children who are born to uneducated and poor parents are twice as likely to die as their counterparts, likely because they have worse access to both preventive and curative health care. Young children living in informal areas are also twice as likely to die compared to others because, everything else being equal, they are more often ill, more often malnourished, and less likely to receive medical care; these outcomes seem all related to the unsanitary environment.

Objectives: to describe the newborn care practices related to clean delivery kit, thermal care and breastfeeding in different regions of India and to identify socio-demographic, antenatal and delivery care factors that are associated with these practices.
Methods: Data for the study were drawn from NFHS-3 conducted in the year 2005-06. The survey covers a representative sample of about 124,385 ever‐married women in the age group 15–49, and the total births recorded are 51, 555 that occurred in the last five years preceding the survey. Logistic regression was used to identify socio-demographic, antenatal and delivery care factors that were associated with the three care practices.
Results: The presence of birth attendant at the place of delivery and women with counseling advice were significantly associated with the use of clean delivery kit and thermal care practice but it is not much associated with breastfeeding practice. Prelacteal feeding was almost universal, and it was common to delay breastfeeding initiation for several days. It is apparent that those women who received ANC are more likely to use clean delivery kit as compared to other groups. Overall the research shows that newborn care practices are well performed in the Southern region whereas its practice is lagging behind in central and east regions.

The benefits of early initiation of breastfeeding for the health baby are well documented. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends early initiation of breastfeeding. A recent trial has shown that early initiation of breastfeeding could reduce neonatal mortality by 22% which would contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (Edmond, 2006). There are few empirical studies on this issue in India, even though early initiation of breastfeeding important for child survival. Present study covers the practices related with early initiation of breastfeeding in slums of Kanpur City in Uttar Pradesh, India. There were 335 lactating mothers were interviewed, using a pretested structured questionnaire in eight slums of Kanpur City. There were 78 per cent of mothers know the advantages of breastfeeding, but only 38 per cent of mothers given colostrum to their babies. Generally new born babies get first breastfed after 2-3 days of delivery. It is considered that colostrum is not good for baby health. Goat milk is considered as very light and digest able for new born baby. During that period new born baby gets pre-lactation feeds like goat milk (82 per cent), cow milk (14 per cent), honey or gur (sugar syrup). Exclusive breastfeeding

This study using nationally representative multiple data sources spanning the period between 1992-2006 investigates whether mother’s empowerment affects children’s nutritional status as measured by z scores on ‘weight for height’, ‘weight for age’ and ‘height for age’. Findings indicate differences in nutritional status by child’s gender, region, caste. Further, multivariate analyses show that relative bargaining index defined as the share of mother’s schooling years over father’s schooling years positively and significantly influence the short term measures of nutritional status of children, namely, z scores of ‘weight- for- age’ and ‘weight- for- height’. However, the estimates of quantile regression suggest that the bargaining power will improve the chronic measure of nutritional status, namely, ‘height for age’ at only the low end of conditional distribution of z score. Additionally, access to health insurance programs and improvement in infrastructure and environment emerge as important factors in reducing child malnutrition.