The influence of parental occupational status on under-five mortality in Ethiopia.

Few studies have examined the mediators of the association between parental occupational status and under-five mortality risk in Ethiopia. We examine the association between parental occupational status and under-five mortality risk in Ethiopia and the role of two mediating variables, antenatal care visits and delivery by a health professional, in this relationship. Using birth data from the nationally representative 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, the study finds that parental occupation, antenatal care visits, and delivery by a health professional are associated with under-five mortality risk. The study also finds that after controlling for mediating variables, parents engaged in professional, agricultural, and manual labor still have lower odds of under-five mortality risk than children of non-working parents. Future research should focus on the pathway from parental employment to child mortality risk, not through access to antenatal care and delivery by health professionals.

Mother's education and infant survival in Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies in Ethiopia have explored the impact of the mothers' education on infant survival. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and analyze the proximate factors in the relationship between maternal education and infant survival in Ethiopia. METHODS: This study used the nationally representative 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey dataset. It analyzed a sample of 3831 newborn children using Cox regression models. RESULTS: The findings revealed that infants born to educated mothers had lower odds of infant mortality than those born to mothers without formal education. Specifically, infants whose mothers had completed secondary school and had a better antenatal care attendance rate had 49.9% lower odds of infant mortality than those born to mothers with no formal education and a poor antenatal care attendance rate. Furthermore, infants whose mothers had at least some postsecondary education and who used delivery by health-care professionals, clean drinking water, and improved toilet facilities had 65.3%, 56.3%, and 68.6% lower odds of infant mortality, respectively, than those born to mothers with no formal education and who did not use those facilities. CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that the mothers' educational disparity is intimately tied to infant mortality, and that access to formal education, mainly for women, increases infant survival in Ethiopia. Future research should focus on mothers without formal education who do not have access to antenatal care visits for safe pregnancy, delivery by health-care professionals, clean drinking water, and improved toilet facilities in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.