Determinants of Under-Five Mortality in Ghana: Evidence from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Background and Objectives: This study aims to investigate the strength of the association between socioeconomic, maternal and environmental determinants and under-five mortality in Ghana. Methods: We utilized data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, a population-based crosssectional study, which included 4151 children born alive to women aged 15-49 years. The primary outcome variable was under-five mortality. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were applied to assess the relationship and relative association of the independent variables with the outcome variable. Results: Children of women with secondary education and above and women within the middle wealth status were 0.593 and 0.886 less likely to experience under five deaths compared to women with no education and women of low wealth status (OR=0.593; 95% CI 1.690 to 2.063; p< 0.01) (OR =0.886; 95% CI 1.48 to 1.63; p< 0.05) to experience under-five deaths compared to women who used piped water. Conclusion and Implications for Translation: This study identified the determinants that significantly predicted under-five deaths and the magnitude of the influence on under-five deaths in Ghana. It accentuates the need for increased maternal education, delayed childbearing age, provision of improved drinking water and toilet facilities to reduce under-five deaths in Ghana.