INFANT MORTALITY IN THE RURAL SIDAMA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA: EXAMINING THE CONTRIBUTION OF KEY PREGNANCY AND POSTNATAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES

Abstract

Objectives: This study is aimed at examining the contribution of selected pregnancy and postnatal health care services to Infant Mortality (IM) in Southern Ethiopia.Method: Data were collected from 10 rural villages of the Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia, using a structured interview schedule. The 1,094 eligible women respondents were selected using a combination of simple random and multi-stage sampling techniques. The main outcome variable of the study (IM) was measured by reported infant deaths during the twelve months preceding the survey, and was estimated at 9.6% or 96 infant deaths per 1,000 births. Pregnancy and health care variables were used as the main explanatory variables along with other household and individual characteristics.Results: The predicted probabilities, using three models of logistic regression analysis, have shown that four pregnancy and postnatal health care variables (antenatal care, immunisation, exclusive breast feeding and wantedness of the pregnancy) and women's age are found to be significant predictors of IM in the study areas.Conclusions: Finally, based on the key findings, some recommendations are given: promoting of institutional delivery seeking behaviour through behavioural change communications, training more Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), and maximising the use of the Health Extension Workers (HEWs) stationed at village level to make a house-to-house visit so as to encourage pregnant women to seek pregnancy and delivery care services.