An Evaluation of Environmental and Cultural Factors Affecting Under-Five Mortality in Kebbi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Over the years, Nigeria at all levels of government has formulated and implemented health policies and programmes to reduce under-five mortality; and despite that, it is still among Sub-Saharan Africa countries with high under-five mortality rate. This study aimed at evaluating environmental and cultural factors affecting under-five mortality in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample respondents. Structured questionnaires were administered to 625 women aged 15-49 years and 603 were retrieved, giving the response rate of 96.5%. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were employed to analyse the characteristics of the respondents and distribution of under-five mortality experienced by women based on the environmental and cultural factors. Logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the environmental and cultural factors affecting under-five mortality in the study area. The results of the Logistic regression analysis revealed that at P-value <0.05, source of water, frequency of washing water container, water treatment, method of disposing waste water, type of toilet, shared toilet, frequency of washing toilet, method of disposing child’s stool, type of cooling appliance, number of persons per room, use of mosquito net, refuse disposal method and type of cooking fuel were found to be the environmental factors significantly affecting under-five mortality; while ethnicity, religion, practice of food taboo, belief in traditional medicine, belief about disease causation, mother’s autonomy on child’s health and family’s decision on child’s health were found to be the cultural factors significantly affecting under-five mortality in the study area. The study therefore concluded that environmental and cultural factors affect under-five mortality in Kebbi state. To reduce under-five mortality rate, it was recommended that government at all levels should step up efforts in providing adequate infrastructure for public use. Government and cultural organizations should mount advocacy programmes aimed at improving women’s participation in child’s health decision-making in the family.