ESTIMATES OF FERTILITY AND MORTALITY FOR AKINYELE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE

Abstract

The large unreported births and deaths and the inefficiencies in the vital registration systems in the Sub - Saharan African countries have been impeding computations of adjusted fertility and mortality indices. To track performance and evaluate the impact of government policies and international interventions on infant, child and maternal health in the local government, estimates of these indicators are needed which form the main objective of this study. This is a descriptive cross - sectional study conducted in Akinyele local government area with 874 respondents using a multi - stage sampling technique. Data were collected using a semi - structured questionnaire. Direct methods were used to estimate fertility rates. The Trusell Variant of the Brass indirect technique was employed for child mortality and P/F ratio for fertility. The Sisterhood method was used for maternal mortality. Chi - Square Statistic was used to determine the association between parity level and socio- demographic variables at 5% level of significance. The mean age of respondents was 33.2 ± 8.85 years. The chi - Square results showed that there were statistical significant association between fertility (Parity levels) and age (P<.005) educational levels (P< .005) and residence of respondents (P < .005). The mean children ever born was 3.07 and the contraceptive prevalence rate was 48%.The adjusted total fertility rates was estimated at 5.43 children per woman while the General Fertility Rate was 167 births per 1,000 women and the Gross Reproduction Rate was approximately 3 daughters per woman of reproductive age. The smoothed infant mortality rate was 32 infant deaths per 1,000 live births while the child mortality rate was 38 deaths per 1,000 live births. The lifetime risk of maternal death was estimated at 0.0281 (1 in 36) while the maternal mortality ratio was 520 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The adjusted fertility rate for the study area was high while the infant and child mortality rates were extremely low due to sampling and reporting errors. To reduce fertility rates and to have a substantial improvement in infant, child and maternal health in the study area, coordinated efforts between national and international agencies are needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 targeted at reducing child and maternal mortality and facilitate family planning to increase the uptake of modern contraceptives with continued focus on local government area as unit of interventions of health programmes.