Background: The study examines the differentials in child mortality existing in the
different settlements in Soweto Townships as at May 2002. It attempts to establish the
association existing between housing settlement and under-five mortality and as well
examine how household characteristics such as building materials, source of drinking
water, sanitation facilities and source of energy is associated with under-five
mortality. Methods: The research comprises secondary data analysis of a household
survey conducted in Soweto in May 2002 by Perinatal HIV Research Unit. The aim
of the study is to describe child mortality and explore its relationship to five different
housing settlements in Soweto Townships. Kaplan Meier curves were fitted to
examine differentials in child mortality in the different housing settlements and Log
rank test was used to compare the survival curves. Logistic regression models were
fitted to establish factors that were associated with under-five mortality in Soweto
Townships as a whole. Results: A total of 2741under-five surviving children and 84
under-five deaths were studied. Informal settlements recorded the highest overall
under-five mortality rate (15.9 per 10000 child years) while private sector housing
settlement recorded the least (3.3 per 10000 child years) of all the housing
settlements. The overall under-five mortality in Soweto Townships was 10.4 per
10000 child years. After controlling for other household characteristics settlement was
significantly associated with high under-five mortality (Council settlement OR 3.3,
P=0.032, 95 CI; 1.113, 10.24, Informal settlement OR 5.10, P=0.005, 95% CI; 1.633,
15.99 and Hostel settlement OR 4.09, P=0.012, 95% CI; 1.357, 12.35). Use of
paraffin and candles were also significantly associated with high under-five mortality
(OR 3.4, P-value<0.001, 95% CI; 2.416, 19.15 and OR 7.2 P-value=0.014, 95% CI;
1.25, 8.88 respectively). Conclusions: Private sector housing settlements reported
lower under-five mortality rates in Soweto Townships (3.3 per 10,000 child years)
and was less associated with high mortality in comparison to the other housing
settlements (Informal, council and hostel housing settlements) in Soweto Townships.
Use of paraffin and candles for lighting in households were mainly associated with
high under-five mortality in Soweto Townships in comparison to those households
that used of electricity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/6800 |
| Date | 25 March 2009 |
| Creators | Kutto, Ezekiel Sitienei |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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