Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep 7;16(9):e0257045.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257045. eCollection 2021.

Under-five mortality and associated factors in southeastern Ethiopia

Firaol Lemessa Kitila  1   2 , Rahel Milkias Petros  3 , Gebi Hussein Jima  2 , Tewodros Desalegn  2 , Abebe Sorsa  3 , Isaac Yaw Massey  1 , Chengcheng Zhang  1 , Fei Yang  1
Affiliations

Under-five mortality and associated factors in southeastern Ethiopia

Firaol Lemessa Kitila et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: In the year 2019, around 5 million children under age five died and most of the deaths happened in developing countries. Though large numbers of deaths are reported in such countries, limited availability of data poses a substantial challenge on generating reliable estimates. Hence, this study aims to assess the prevalence and factors associated with under-five mortality in southeastern Ethiopia.

Methods: A register based cross sectional study was conducted from 1st September 2014 to July 2019 in Asella teaching and referral hospital. A total of 4901 under-five age children registered on the admission and discharge book of pediatric ward with complete information were included for the analysis. Data entry and analysis were conducted using Epidata Version 7 and SPSS version 21, respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the characteristics of the study participants and their condition at discharge. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with its 95% Confidence interval and P-value less than 5% was used to decide the statistically significant association.

Results: The prevalence of under-five mortality among admitted children in Asella Teaching and Referral hospital was 8.7% (95% CI 7.91-9.50%). Post-Neonatal and Child mortality were found to be 9.1% and 8.18%, respectively. Moreover, large numbers of death (45.2%) were seen within the first 2 days of admission. Address (AOR:1.4(1.08-1.81)), HIV status (AOR:4.64 (2.19-9.8)), severe acute malnutrition (AOR:2.82 (2.03-3.91)), hypovolemic shock (AOR:4.32 (2.31-8.1)), type I diabetes with DKA (AOR:3.53(1.34-9.29) and length of stay in the hospital for ≤2 days (AOR: 4.28 (3.09-5.95)) as well as 3-4 days (AOR: 1.48 (1.02-2.15)) were among the identified predictors.

Conclusions: Though childhood mortality is swiftly decreasing, and access and utilization of health care is improving in Ethiopia, our study found large prevalence of under-five mortality, 8.7% and higher number of deaths in early days of admission. Improving the quality of service has a paramount importance in reducing the mortality and managing associated factors contributing to under-five mortality among admitted children.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Discharge condition of children along with the length of stay in Asella Teaching & Referral Hospital, 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), ‘‘Sustainable Development Goals 2030” https://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/brochure/SDGs_Bo....
    1. Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) [Ethiopia] and ICF, 2019. Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019: Key Indicators. Rockville, Maryland, USA: EPHI and ICF.
    1. World Health Organization (WHO). Global Health Observatory (GHO) data, under-five mortality. Accessed from https://www.who.int/gho/child_health/mortality/mortality_under_five_text... on May 15/2020.
    1. GBD 2019 Demographics Collaborators. Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950–2019: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet, 2020Oct17;396 (10258):1160–1203. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30977-6 ; PMCID: PMC7566045. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yohannes MA, Senafikish AF, Zelalem BM, and Shimelash BW, 2017. Childhood Mortality: Trends and Determinants in Ethiopia from 1990 to 2015—A Systematic Review. Hindawi, Advances in Public Health, Volume 2017, Article ID 7479295.