Predictive model and determinants of under-five child mortality: evidence from the 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 19; no. 1; p. 64
• Main Author: Aheto, Justice Moses K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 14.01.2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Births; Child deaths; Child health; Child mortality; Children; Children & youth; Childrens health; Contraceptives; Demographics; Developing countries; Education; Family; Family planning; Fatalities; Ghana; Health care policy; Health policy; Health surveys; Immunization; Inflation; Intervention; LDCs; Likelihood ratio; Medical research; Mortality; Motor vehicle drivers; Multilevel logistic regression; Odds ratio; Parent educational background; Pediatric research; Prediction models; Predictions; Predictive model; Public health; Regional differences; Regional planning; Regression analysis; Regression models; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Statistical analysis; Statistical significance; Strategies; Studies; Survival; Survival analysis; Under-five mortality; Ghana; Nigeria; Sub-Saharan Africa; Child deaths; Multilevel logistic regression; Predictive model; Developing countries; Odds ratio; Ghana; ROC curve; Risk factors; Sub-Saharan Africa; Under-five mortality
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-6390-4

Globally, millions of children aged below 5 years die every year and some of these deaths could have been prevented. Though a global problem, under-five mortality is also a major public health problem in Ghana with a rate of 60 deaths per 1000 live births. Identification of drivers of mortality among children aged below 5 years is an important problem that needs to be addressed because it could help inform health policy and intervention strategies aimed at achieving the United Nations SDG Goal 3 target 2. The aim of this study is to develop a predictive model and to identify determinants of under-five mortality. The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data was used in this study. Analyses were conducted on 5884 children. The outcome variable is child survival status (alive or dead). Single level binary logistic and multilevel logistic regression models were employed to investigate determinants of under-five mortality. The fit of the model was checked using Variance Inflation Factor and Likelihood Ratio tests. The Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was used to assess the predictive ability of the models. A p-value< 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. The study observed 289 (4.91%) deaths among children aged below 5 years. The study produced a good predictive model and identified increase in number of total children ever born, number of births in last 5 years, and mothers who did not intend to use contraceptive as critical risk factors that increase the odds of under-five mortality. Also, children who were born multiple and residing in certain geographical regions of Ghana is associated with increased odds of under-five mortality. Maternal education and being a female child decreased the odds of under-five mortality. No significant unobserved household-level variations in under-five mortality were found. The spatial map revealed regional differences in crude under-five mortality rate in the country. This study identified critical risk factors for under-five mortality and strongly highlights the need for family planning, improvement in maternal education and addressing regional disparities in child health which could help inform health policy and intervention strategies aimed at improving child survival.