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Trends in childhood mortality in Kenya: the urban advantage has seemingly been wiped out

Trends in childhood mortality in Kenya: the urban advantage has seemingly been wiped out
Trends in childhood mortality in Kenya: the urban advantage has seemingly been wiped out
Background: we describe trends in childhood mortality in Kenya, paying attention to the urban–rural and intra-urban differentials.

Methods: we use data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) collected between 1993 and 2008 and the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) collected in two Nairobi slums between 2003 and 2010, to estimate infant mortality rate (IMR), child mortality rate (CMR) and under-five mortality rate (U5MR).

Results: between 1993 and 2008, there was a downward trend in IMR, CMR and U5MR in both rural and urban areas. The decline was more rapid and statistically significant in rural areas but not in urban areas, hence the gap in urban–rural differentials narrowed over time. There was also a downward trend in childhood mortality in the slums between 2003 and 2010 from 83 to 57 for IMR, 33 to 24 for CMR, and 113 to 79 for U5MR, although the rates remained higher compared to those for rural and non-slum urban areas in Kenya.

Conclusions: the narrowing gap between urban and rural areas may be attributed to the deplorable living conditions in urban slums. To reduce childhood mortality, extra emphasis is needed on the urban slums.
1353-8292
95-103
Kimani-Murage, E.W.
230f002b-81cf-4054-89b0-f63498e4b92f
Fotso, J.C.
46d0bf23-afff-40e4-9208-5ffa768a3c64
Egondi, T.
bab1d889-5bfa-434d-9f00-822d4648b373
Abuya, B.
97e3dfb5-cafa-44e6-84f2-62ee499fb51d
Elungata, P.
19b92242-0dfe-49da-b39d-53eba74b3147
Ziraba, A.K.
9ec741a2-c854-4a5d-8514-02015be0b497
Kabiru, C.W.
320c92b1-f794-47b5-a6b4-8a3f6db58dc9
Madise, N.J.
2ea2fbcc-50da-4696-a0a5-2fe01db63d8c
Kimani-Murage, E.W.
230f002b-81cf-4054-89b0-f63498e4b92f
Fotso, J.C.
46d0bf23-afff-40e4-9208-5ffa768a3c64
Egondi, T.
bab1d889-5bfa-434d-9f00-822d4648b373
Abuya, B.
97e3dfb5-cafa-44e6-84f2-62ee499fb51d
Elungata, P.
19b92242-0dfe-49da-b39d-53eba74b3147
Ziraba, A.K.
9ec741a2-c854-4a5d-8514-02015be0b497
Kabiru, C.W.
320c92b1-f794-47b5-a6b4-8a3f6db58dc9
Madise, N.J.
2ea2fbcc-50da-4696-a0a5-2fe01db63d8c

Kimani-Murage, E.W., Fotso, J.C., Egondi, T., Abuya, B., Elungata, P., Ziraba, A.K., Kabiru, C.W. and Madise, N.J. (2014) Trends in childhood mortality in Kenya: the urban advantage has seemingly been wiped out. Health and Place, 29, 95-103. (doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.06.003).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: we describe trends in childhood mortality in Kenya, paying attention to the urban–rural and intra-urban differentials.

Methods: we use data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) collected between 1993 and 2008 and the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) collected in two Nairobi slums between 2003 and 2010, to estimate infant mortality rate (IMR), child mortality rate (CMR) and under-five mortality rate (U5MR).

Results: between 1993 and 2008, there was a downward trend in IMR, CMR and U5MR in both rural and urban areas. The decline was more rapid and statistically significant in rural areas but not in urban areas, hence the gap in urban–rural differentials narrowed over time. There was also a downward trend in childhood mortality in the slums between 2003 and 2010 from 83 to 57 for IMR, 33 to 24 for CMR, and 113 to 79 for U5MR, although the rates remained higher compared to those for rural and non-slum urban areas in Kenya.

Conclusions: the narrowing gap between urban and rural areas may be attributed to the deplorable living conditions in urban slums. To reduce childhood mortality, extra emphasis is needed on the urban slums.

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 June 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 July 2014
Published date: September 2014
Organisations: Social Statistics & Demography

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 370128
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/370128
ISSN: 1353-8292
PURE UUID: c69cea3e-18fd-4ce5-a281-fca5bbe17589
ORCID for N.J. Madise: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2813-5295

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Date deposited: 27 Oct 2014 10:21
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 18:12

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Contributors

Author: E.W. Kimani-Murage
Author: J.C. Fotso
Author: T. Egondi
Author: B. Abuya
Author: P. Elungata
Author: A.K. Ziraba
Author: C.W. Kabiru
Author: N.J. Madise ORCID iD

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