Covariates of Under-Five Mortality: Application of Survival Analysis to a Cross Section of Ghanaian Children

Abstract

The health of children is an important indicator for describing the overall social and economic wellbeing of a country. Yet, child mortality remains an albatross in developing countries. Approximately 111 per 1000 children in Ghana die before age five as compared to 5 in the industrialized world. This paper investigates the factors influencing under-five mortality among a cross-section of Ghanaian households. Women aged 15-49 who had experienced a live birth over the period 2002-2007 were recruited into the study. The Weibull parametric model was applied in the empirical estimation. Our findings indicate that the hazard of mortality is significantly correlated with gender, birth parity, multiple births (twin) and utilization of medical inputs such as ITN. Further, children from households in the intermediate income quintiles were found to have higher survival prospects relative to those from the poorest income quintile. District of residence was also found to be an important predictor of childhood survival. The study reiterates that low cost but effective interventions such as the utilization of Permethrin Treated Bed nets are crucial to mitigating the alarming mortality rates in developing countries.