Breastfeeding and infant and child mortality: the case of selected areas in Dodoma, Tanzania

This research is intended to study the levels and covariates of breastfeeding and establish the effects of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality. The objectives are to ascertain the relationship between some socio-economic factors, maternal factors and breastfeeding, assess the extent and degree of the effects of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality and recommend measures to be undertaken in lowering infant and child mortality in Tanzania. The data were taken from the household interviews. The target population for this study was women in childbearing ages (15-49 years) with at least two live births. In total, 1000 households were covered. 500 households in Dodoma urban and another 500 households in Dodoma rural. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis of the data were employed. It was found that many women breastfeed for more than two years. However, breastfeeding is not the main determinant of the under five mortality in the studied areas. Education, residence, maternal age, parity and birth interval are found to be strongly correlated with both breastfeeding and under-five mortality. Some recommendations have been advanced. They include: improvement of education, prolonging birth intervals hence having few children, raising age of mother at childbirth and minimizing rural-urban disparities. Finally, recommendations for future research are given.