Maternal Practices Affecting Under-Five Mortality in a Suburban Area of Jos, North-Central Nigeria

Background: The report of the Population Reference Bureau (2011) which stated that 76 out of every 1,000 infants die every year due to preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and vaccine preventable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa is worrisome. Whereas, in advanced countries, infant mortality rate has dropped significantly to only five out of every 1,000 live birth. This is what has prompted this study -to determine the predictors of under-five mortality in a suburban area in Jos Plateau State Nigeria.
Methods: The study was a community based cross-sectional survey in which households were selected by systematic sampling method from a randomly selected suburban community in Jos,Nigeria
Results: The percentage prevalence of reported under-five mortality was found to be 10.8% with the cause of death being reported as malaria (48.4%), diarrhea (38.7%), pneumonia (9.7%) and unknown causes (3.2%), the positive predictors with significant under-five mortality were; high parity with odds of 3.3 times and p value of 0.001 in those with parity of 4-6 and about 16 times mortality with a p value of < 0.000 in those with parity greater than 6. Those who were not exclusively breastfed had 5.3 times the likelihood of mortality with a p value of 0.001 and mortality was 4 times higher in partially immunized children( p=0.027) and almost 12 times in those who were not immunized at all (p< 0.000)
Conclusion: Percentage prevalence of reported under-five mortality was found to be higher among those with higher parity, lack of exclusive breastfeeding and poor immunization status in this study.