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Ethnic differentials in early childhood mortality in Nepal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Minja Kim Choe ,
Robert D. Retherford ,
Bhakta B. Gubhaju  and
Shyam Thapa
Minja Kim Choe
Affiliation:
Population Institute, East–West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Robert D. Retherford
Affiliation:
Population Institute, East–West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Bhakta B. Gubhaju
Affiliation:
Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health Project, Ministry of Health, Kathmandu, Nepal
Shyam Thapa
Affiliation:
Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
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Summary

This paper investigates the association of early childhood mortality (between birth and second birthday) with ethnicity in Nepal, based on data from the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey, which was part of the World Fertility Survey. The approach is through a series of hazard models, which incorporate ethnicity, year of birth, mother's illiteracy, father's illiteracy, rural-urban residence, region, sex, maternal age, survival of previous birth, previous birth interval, and breast-feeding as covariates. Ethnic differentials in early childhood mortality are not explained by the other socioeconomic and demographic covariates, except for a modest effect of illiteracy, but the remaining covariates explain a great deal of variability in early childhood mortality itself. Analysis using an improved specification of breast-feeding as an age-varying covariate indicates, on average, that breast-feeding, relative to not breast-feeding, reduces age-specific mortality risks during the first 2 years of life by 76%, a very large effect.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 1989 , pp. 223 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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