Mothers Work Status And Infant Mortality In Ethiopia A Study Based On Demographic And Health Survey Data

Despite its many advantages, the work of women in economic activities in Ethiopia has beenrnassociated with increased and decreased mortality of infants. Thus, this study examines whetherrnthese conclusions are upheld at the level of the typical Ethiopian mother.rnUsing data from the Ethiopia Demographic and health Survey (EDHS) in year 2000, the effect ofrnwork status of mothers on infant survival is investigated at country level. The study usesrninformation on 15,367 women of age 15-49 included in the survey for the entire country. Therneffect of work is also evaluated separately by type of work whether the work isrnprofessional/technical/clerical or agricultural/manual. Cox regression model is used to examinernthe association between infant mortality and mother’s work stuatus.rnUsing the Kaplan-Meier estimation technique, the univariate analysis shows that survival ofrninfants is 93.2 percent with standard deviation of 0.0060. The bivariate comparison of infantrnmortality rates for the period two years before the survey according to mother’s work statusrnreveals that mothers who are working had no significant difference on infant mortality fromrnmothers who are not working. These results are largely upheld in the multivariate analysis.rnHowever, according to the type of work, the relative risk of infant mortality forrnagricultural/manual is 1.170 times higher than non-workers. The risk of death is also significantlyrnlower among professional/technical/clerical workers (32 percent) than non-working mothers.rnMultivariate analysis assesses the strength of apparent association between work status of thernmother and infant mortality by controlling other characteristics likely to influence the outcomes.rnThe relative risks associated with several other variables are statistically significant and in thernexpected direction. Among these factors the length of the preceding birth interval for infantsrnexerted an expected beneficial effect on the hazard ratio of infants. There is also evidence of arnstrong detrimental effect of the birth order on the hazard ratio of infant death. As expected, beingrnfirst born significantly increases the probability of dying at infant stage. The risk of infant deathrnis higher in those who are not married than married; among other variables the probability ofrninfant death will be lower if the mother is educated

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