Whose Child Is Dying? Household Structure and Under-Five Mortality in Nigeria

Although a substantial body of literature explores infant and mortality among under-five children in Nigeria. A vast majority of the studies have succeeded in calling attention to the individual level characteristics of households who experience infant and under-five mortality. Currently, there is little research on the implications of non-individual level factors for under-five mortality in Nigeria.  Yet, a factor such as household structure (age and sex of household head) may have huge implications for mortality among under-five children. The neglect of these factors which are also associated with adverse outcomes for infant’s health and children less than five years, especially in developing countries is critical. To provide a scientific foundation for the interaction between under-five mortality and household structure, the study uses data from the Nigerian DHS 2008 based on a sample of 33,385 women aged 15-49 women of reproductive age. The bivariate regression analyses show that all predictor variables have association with under-five mortality. Interestingly, all the predictor variables were significant at the multivariate analysis.