Differential mortality in Kenya

Abstract

This study is concerned with the investigation of the factors that influence infant/or early childhood mortality at the macro level. The factors investigated include the following district level variables: per-cent women with five or more standards of education; percent cases of malaria; hospital beds per 1000 persons; total fertility; population to health facility ratio; per capita high potential agricultural land as a proxy for rural income; kilometres of roads per 1000 square kilometres as a proxy for socio-economic development; percent urban; and population density The investigation is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 gives the historical background of mortality in the developing countries, Africa and Kenya in particular Chapter 11 discusses and presents all the data utilized in this research. Chapter 111 describes the models used in this study, Chapter IV is the analysis of infant/or child mortality differentials and ~heir correlates in Kenya. Chapter V examines the relationship between infant/or child mortality and the educational levels of mothers. Chapter VI gives a summary of the findings, conclusions and recommendations for further studies This is followed by appendices and references/bibliography A multivariate analysis was used to examine the 1979 mortality differentials in Kenya by district Data for all the variabIes by districts were gathered, and. regression was perf'ormed on these data It was found that a significant correlation exists between infant/or child mortality and education and malaria variable so The results for the other ex) variables were rather inconclusive. Only four out of nine variables considered explained 52.5 percent of the variation present In the mortality index as compared to 59.4 percent explained by all the variables together. These variables were as follows: womens education, malaria, agriculture and population density. The district data analysed in this study revealed that the variations in child mortality levels by district are partly a result of the existing educational differentials among the districts. Indeed, inter-Y8gional differentials in mortality appeared to persist even after controlling for differences in women's educational levels. Thus women "s education plays a major role as a major factor in mortality decline only All the hypothesized relationships were confirmed except for the 'hospital