This report examines the influence of parent’s migration status on childhood
mortality in sending households in the South African rural sub-district of
Agincourt. A survival analysis of a cohort of children born in Agincourt
between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 2003 was conducted using the
Cox proportional hazards model to estimate the influence of parent’s
migration status on under-5 year mortality. Starting with a baseline census in
1992, the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (AHDSS)
data are collected and updated every 12 months wherein fieldworkers visit
each household at the site to record the vital events, including births, deaths,
and migrations that occurred since the previous census. Results of the
survival analysis show that children born in households where the father was
a temporary migrant while the mother remained at the rural household had a
35% lower risk of death compared to children in households where both
parents were non-migrant (RR=0.647, 95% CI 0.439-0.954). The results also
reveal that, controlling for parent migration status, children in single-parent
(mother only) households had about 28% higher death hazard than children in
two-parent households (RR=1.284, 95% CI 0.936-1.673). The findings
suggest that temporary labour migration could be a means to improving
household incomes and quality of life for children, particularly where the father
is a temporary migrant while the mother remains behind taking care of the
children. At the same time, children whose fathers are not indicated appear to
be worse off whether their parents are temporary migrants or not.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4987 |
| Date | 26 June 2008 |
| Creators | Gumbo, Promise |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 211160 bytes, 5170 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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