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In the light of Mozambique's progress towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4 of reducing mortality of children aged less than five years (under-five mortality) by two-thirds within 2015, this study investigated the relationship between the province of mother's residence and under-five mortality in Mozambique, using data from the 2003 Mozambican Demographic and Health Survey. The analyses included 10,326 children born within 10 years before the survey. Results of univariate and multivariate analyses showed a significant association between under-five mortality and province (region) of mother's residence. Children of mothers living in the North provinces (Niassa, Cabo Delgado, and Nampula) and the Central provinces (Zambezia, Sofala, Manica, and Tete) had higher risks of mortality than children whose mothers lived in the South provinces, especially Maputo province and Maputo city. However, controlling for the demographic, socioeconomic and environmental variables, the significance found between the place of mother's residence and under-five mortality reduced slightly. This suggests that other variables (income distribution and trade, density of population, distribution of the basic infrastructure, including healthcare services, climatic and ecologic factors), which were not included in the study, may have confounding effects. This study supports the thought that interventions aimed at reducing under-five mortality should be tailored to take into account the subnational/regional variation in economic development. However, research is warranted to further investigate the potential determinants behind the observed differences in under-five mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relation between socio-economic parental position (education and occupation) and child death in Mozambique using data from the Mozambican Demographic and Health Survey carried out between March and July 1997. The analysis included 9142 children born within 10 years before the survey. In spite of the Western system of classification used in the study, the results partly showed a parental socio-economic gradient of infant and child mortality in Mozambique. Father''s education seemed to reflect the family''s social standing in the Mozambique context, showing a strong statistical association with postneonatal and child mortality. However, maternal education as a measure of socio-economic position was not statistically significantly associated with child mortality. This finding may partly be explained by the extreme hardships experienced by the country (civil war and natural disasters) and the implementation of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme that have also affected the health of women and their children during the years covered by this study. Other measures of socio-economic position applicable to the rural African setting should be investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study describes urban and rural trends of infant, child and under-five mortality in Mozambique (1973-1997) by mother's place of residence. A direct method of estimation was applied to the 1997 Mozambican Demographic and Health Survey data. The levels of infant, child and under-five mortality were considerably higher in rural than in urban areas. The difference in mortality between urban and rural areas increased over time until 1988-1992 and thereafter diminished. Possible causes of the different trends (e.g. the impact of civil war, drought, migration, adjustment programme and HIV/AIDS) are discussed. The increase in mortality in urban areas during the last few years before the survey may have been related to the immigration to urban areas of mothers whose children had high levels of mortality. Higher levels of infant, child and under-five mortality still prevail, particularly in rural areas. Further studies are needed to investigate the differentials of infant and child mortality by mother's place of residence.