Page 172 - GHES-2-1

Global Health Econ Sustain Household food insecurity and Under-five Mortality

3. Results of children ever born, the majority of respondents (86.9%)
reported having up to four children. A substantial portion
3.1. Demographic and socio-economic of respondents used antenatal care services (53.1%), and
characteristics of respondents
a vast majority (98.2%) had access to a common toilet
As shown in Table 1, a total of 605 respondents participated facility. Approximately 70.2% of households surveyed
in the study. Nearly half of these households, constituting were identified as food insecure. Regarding breastfeeding
48.7%, fell within the age range of 25 – 34 years old. The practices, the majority of respondents (74.7%) reported
educational background of the respondents varied, with the initiation of breastfeeding within 1 day of childbirth.
the majority (39.7%) having attended secondary school, The age at which respondents had their first birth varied,
followed by those who completed primary school (28.3%). with 39.3% starting between the ages of 20 and 24. Of the
In addition, 14.2% held a diploma or higher qualification, total under-five children, more than half (56.2%) were
while 9.6% had no formal education. In terms of the number males, and only about 7.0% were multiple births. Out of

Table 1. Households and socio‑demographic characteristics of women (N=605)
Variables Under‑five mortality Chi‑square test
Alive Dead Total
n % n % n % χ 2 p‑value
Age at first birth 26.65 0.000*
15 – 19 82 89.1 10 10.9 92 15.2
20 – 24 239 94.1 15 5.9 254 42.0
25 – 29 138 85.7 23 14.3 161 26.6
>30 73 74.5 25 25.5 98 16.2
Number of children 25.14 0.000*
ever born
1–4 425 91.6 39 8.4 464 76.7
>4 107 75.9 34 24.1 141 23.3
Toilet facility 0.664 0.434
Private 9 81.8 2 18.2 11 1.8
Common 521 88.0 71 12.0 592 98.2
Initiation of 42.23 0.000*
breastfeeding
Immediately 68 66.0 35 34.0 103 25.3
Not-immediately 280 92.1 24 7.9 304 74.7
Antenatal care service 0.007 0.932
No 164 85.4 28 14.6 192 46.9
Yes 186 85.7 31 14.3 217 53.1
Household food 18.41 0.000*
insecurity status
Food-secure 174 96.7 6 3.3 180 29.8
Food-insecure 358 84.2 67 15.8 425 70.2
Maternal education 32.08 0.000*
Uneducated 48 82.8 10 17.2 58 9.6
Informal 34 68.0 16 32.0 50 8.3
Primary 146 85.4 25 14.6 171 28.3
Secondary 220 91.7 20 8.3 240 39.7
Above diploma 84 97.7 2 2.3 86 14.2
Note: *p<0.25, indicating a significant association.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 5 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1682