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The contribution of reduction in malaria as a cause of rapid decline of under-five mortality: evidence from the Rufiji Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in rural Tanzania.
- Source :
- Malaria Journal; 2014, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p1-22, 21p, 3 Charts, 2 Graphs, 1 Map
- Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- Background Under-five mortality has been declining rapidly in a number of sub-Saharan African settings. Malaria-related mortality is known to be a major component of childhood causes of death and malaria remains a major focus of health interventions. The paper explored the contribution of malaria relative to other specific causes of under-five deaths to these trends. Methods This paper uses longitudinal demographic surveillance data to examine trends and causes of death of under-five mortality in Rufiji, whose population has been followed for over nine years (1999-2007). Causes of death, determined by the verbal autopsy technique, are analysed with Arriaga's decomposition method to assess the contribution of declining malaria-related mortality relative to other causes of death as explaining a rapid decline in overall childhood mortality. Results Over the 1999-2007 period, under-five mortality rate in Rufiji declined by 54.3%, from 33.3 to 15.2 per 1,000 person-years. If this trend is sustained, Rufiji will be a locality that achieves MDG4 target. Although hypotrophy at birth remained the leading cause of death for neonates, malaria remains as the leading cause of death for post-neonates followed by pneumonia. However, declines in malaria death rates accounted for 49.9% of the observed under-five mortality decline while all perinatal causes accounted for only 19.9%. Conclusion To achieve MDG 4 in malaria endemic settings, health programmes should continue efforts to reduce malaria mortality and more efforts are also needed to improve newborn survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- MALARIA
MORTALITY
PNEUMONIA
NEWBORN infants
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14752875
- Volume :
- 13
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Malaria Journal
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 96049588
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-13-180