Browsing by Author "Mohan, Shabani Konta"

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    An investigation of the effect of some socio-economic factors on infant and child mortality in Tanzania: a case study of Dodom region
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1992) Mohan, Shabani Konta
    This study attempted to examine the effects of some socio-economic factors on infant and child mortality at micro-level in Tanzania. It is based on the data on 2338 household members collected through a retrospective sample survey, which was carried out in Dodoma region-in both rural and urban districts between May and August, 1991. The study was prompted by the fact that Tanzania has been largely receiving medical and health facilities/ services from foreign donors but still has high CMR and IMR. Thus, the main objective of the study was to establish the relationship between some socio-economic factors on infant and child mortality in the region. Of the Socio-economic factors whose effects on child mortality were assessed were: Residence, level of education especially of the mother, average household income level, availability and accessibility to clean and safe water, toilet and housing conditions, availability and accessibility to medical facilities/services and mothers' nature of employment. The results revealed that rural setting on average had higher mortality incidences for their children than the urban setting partially because of lower proportion of educated mothers in the area as compared to the urban district apart from other better social services that are not found in the rural setting. Furthermore, mothers’ education seemed to have inverse relationship with child mortality and was highly significant at 5% level in the rural district. Low household income level in both residential settings was found to be associated with high child mortality. The effects of availability of medicine at the hospital on infant and child mortality was not determined because Chi-Square Statistic failed to show any association between the variable and MORT(a variable used to measure mortality risks for children). Mothers' nature of occupation was also found to be associated with child mortality. Mothers employed in good paying jobs in offices together with full time housewives were found to be associated with low child mortality risks for their children when compared to farmers or lowly paid wage earners. Again, families that used water from either pond, stream or wells had on average higher frequent deaths for their children than those families that relied on piped water