Environmental and Socio-Demographic Risk Factors of Childhood Mortality: Evidence from Longitudinal Surveillance Data

Kubaje Adazu, Brown University

We examine longitudinal surveillance data to investigate how environmental and socio-demographic factors influence child survival in northern Ghana. As recently as 1994 the infant mortality rate in rural areas of the Kassena-Nankana district was over double that of rural areas in Ghana nationally. We analyze data from the Navrongo Demographic Surveillance System, which registered 21,027 births between 1993 and 1998. The event-history spells generated from this data form the basis of our detailed discrete time model of child death as a function of several socio-demographic and environmental covariates. Education, place of residence and the mother's age are strong predictors of mortality. Parental education, significantly reduces the risk of infant death. Infants born to teenage mothers have an exceptionally high risk of dying. Children residing in Navrongo town have far better chances of surviving to adulthood than children residing in the villages in the outskirts of the district.