DETERMINANTS OF UNDER-FIVE DEATHS IN URBAN PARTS OF ETHIOPIA

The objective of this study was to identify determinants of under-five mortality in urban parts of Ethiopia using the 2011 EDHS data. To achieve the objective of this study descriptive statistics and count regression models were used for data analysis using socio-economic, demographic and environmental related variables as explanatory variables and the number of under-five deaths per mother as the response variables. Information on the number of deaths of under-five children obtained from a total of 1,807 women in the urban parts of Ethiopia was studied. From these, 328 women experienced 513 under-five deaths. Conversely, 81.8% of the women in urban areas never experienced under-5 death of their children. Nevertheless, 12%, 3.6%, 1.6%, 0.6%, 0.2%, 0.1% and 0.1% of them lost 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of their under–five deaths, respectively. Factors influencing the number of under-five deaths have been identified. Mother’s level of education, age of mothers at the first birth, toilet facility and work/employment status of mothers were found to be statistically significant with the number of under-five deaths per mothers in urban parts of Ethiopia.