Factors associated with infant mortality in Magway region, Myanmar

Abstract

Infant mortality is one of the important indicators of a country's health outcome. Myanmar is on the list of countries with highest infant mortality rate in South East Asia and its figure is 62 per 1,000 live births according to The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census . Among states and regions of Myanmar, Magway Region has the highest infant mortality rate of 89 per 1,000 live births which is even higher than the least developed mountainous area of the country, Chin State. This study aims to examine the factors associated with infant mortality in Magway Region to set more effective intervention programs combating the high infant mortality rate. The study utilized secondary data from The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census . Associated factors with infant mortality were considered as four categories including maternal factors, child factors, housing and sanitation factors and geographical factors. The units of analysis were children who were born one year before the census. There were 6,125 infants covered by this study and 3.9 percent of them experienced death before reaching their first birthday. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted to examine background characteristics of independent variables and dependent variable. Binary logistic regression was performed to examine the association of each explanatory variable with outcome variable. Results depict that maternal factors (age of mother, education of mother), child factor (number of ever born children living in the household) and housing and sanitation factors (type of housing, type of latrine) have significant association with infant mortality in Magway Region. Based on findings, appropriate policy implications are suggested to make headway in child health condition of Myanmar.