CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 234Global Maternal and Child HealthMaternal and Neonatal HealthcareInfant Development and Preterm Care

Neonatal mortality in Ethiopia: trends and determinants

Open access
Mekonnen, Yared, Tensou, Biruk, Telake, Daniel S, Degefie, Tedbabe, Bekele, Abeba·2013·BMC Public Health
DOI 10.1186/1471-2458-13-483PMC PMC3659057
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Ethiopian neonatal mortality rate constitutes 42% of under-5 deaths. We aimed to examine the trends and determinants of Ethiopian neonatal mortality. METHODS: We analyzed the birth history information of live births from the 2000, 2005 and 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). We used simple linear regression analyses to examine trends in neonatal mortality rates and a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model using a hierarchical approach to examine the associated factors. RESULTS: The neonatal mortality rate declined by 1.9% per annum from 1995 to 2010, logarithmically. The early neonatal mortality rate declined by 0.9% per annum and was where 74% of the neonatal deaths occurred. Using multivariate analyses, increased neonatal mortality risk was associated with male sex (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.38; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.23 - 1.55); neonates born to mothers aged < 18 years (HR = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.15 - 1.72); and those born within 2 years of the preceding birth (HR = 2.19; 95% CI, 1.89 - 2.51). Winter birth increased the risk of dying compared with spring births (HR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.08 - 1.51). Giving two Tetanus Toxoid Injections (TTI) to the mothers before childbirth decreased neonatal mortality risk (HR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.36 - 0.54). Neonates born to women with secondary or higher schooling vs. no education had a lower risk of dying (HR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49 - 0.95). Compared with neonates in Addis Ababa, neonates in Amhara (HR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.26 - 2.83), Benishangul Gumuz (HR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.15 - 2.67) and Tigray (HR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.01 - 2.34) regions carried a significantly higher risk of death. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal mortality must decline more rapidly to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 target for under-5 mortality in Ethiopia. Strategies to address neonatal survival require a multifaceted approach that encompasses health-related and other measures. Addressing short birth interval and preventing early pregnancy must be considered as interventions. Programs must improve the coverage of TTI and prevention of hypothermia for winter births should be given greater emphasis. Strategies to improve neonatal survival must address inequalities in neonatal mortality by women's education and region.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/1471-2458-13-483

Cites

49 of 49 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 51 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Mekonnen, Y., Tensou, B., Telake, D. S., Degefie, T., & Bekele, A.
Affiliations
  • Save the Children (US)
  • United Nations Children's Fund (US)
Corresponding author
Mekonnen, Yared
ORCID
Mekonnen, Yared
Venue
BMC Public Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2013-05-17
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
483-483
ISSN
1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/1471-2458-13-483
PMC
PMC3659057
OpenAlex
W2055079578
Cited by
234
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 10
FWCI
8.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Infant Development and Preterm Care
Keywords
Ethiopia, mortality trends, early neonatal mortality, risk factors, season of birth, maternal education, maternal age, parity, sex differences, regional disparities, under-five mortality, Addis Ababa, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Tigray
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Birth Intervals, Ethiopia, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant Mortality, Infant, Newborn, Male, Middle Aged, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Risk Factors, Healthcare Disparities

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review