ESTIMATES OF CHILDHOOD AND FEMALE ADULT MORTALITY IN MOKOLA AREA OF IBADAN NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

The effectiveness of public health programmes and policies can be measured by levels of specific morbidity and mortality indicators in a population. In particular, the levels of infant and childhood mortality could reflect the overall health status of a population. As a result, the use of mortality information for planning; monitoring and evaluating the impact of various health programs cannot be overemphasized. The poor status of vital registration system in Nigeria through which direct estimates of childhood and adult mortality could be obtained is well known. Therefore, the indirect methods of estimating mortality from retrospective survivorship reports remain an important tool for gaining understanding of the mortality conditions in Nigeria. This study therefore generated estimates of childhood and female adult mortality in Mokola, an urban community in Ibadan. This cross-sectional study adopted a two-stage cluster sampling procedure to select 1500 eligible individuals from the same number of households. The first stage of sampling involved the selection of 30 clusters by simple random sampling. The clusters were made up of already existing streets as evident in the cartographic representation of Mokola. In the second stage, all men and women aged 15-49 years were selected from a listing of all individuals in the 30 clusters selected at the first stage. Information on survival of children ever born by women and survival of parents were collected from respondents using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using Brass' techniques for estimating childhood and adult mortality. Respondents were predominantly females (71.4%). The mean ages of men and women were 30 and 31 years (S.D ± 9.6 and 8.8) respectively. Most of the respondents (90.0%) had at least secondary education. The adjusted infant mortality rate was 32 per thousand; probability of dying before the age of two years was 47 per thousand and the under-five mortality rate was 63 per thousand. The logistics regression analysis showed that mothers with primary education (OR=5.5, 95%C.T=2.3 - 13.2) and those with access to pit latrine (OR=2.4, 95% C.I=l.3 - 4.2) experienced high child mortality. Mothers' occupation, marital status and source of drinking water were not significantly associated with child mortality. The implied life expectancy at birth given the mortality level obtained was 64 years. The adjusted female adult mortality level, summarized by the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 years was 33 per thousand. The female adult survivorship probabilities obtained from sons were significantly higher than estimates obtained from daughters (P<0.05). Relatively low level of childhood and female adult mortality were obtained in Mokola. However, despite the relatively low mortality estimates obtained, there is need to invest in research and surveillance systems to improve on the estimation of mortality levels in Mokola and other similar locations.