Publication:

EFFECT OF PRECEDING AND SUCCEEDING BIRTH INTERVALS ON UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY IN MALAWI

This study examines the relationship between birth intervals (prior and Posterior) and under-five mortality in Malawi. The study is based on theories of investment in health, in this case health of children and also the theory of competition of resources among siblings of the same household. Secondary data used by this study is from the Malawi Demographic Health Survey of 2010. Probit model is used to find the relationship between birth intervals and under-five mortality and the hazard models are used to find the risk of mortality by different birth intervals. Apart from birth intervals as independent variables, the study uses other control variables including location, mother’s literacy, mother’s age at first birth, wealth and the presence of twin child. The results show that there is a negative relationship between birth intervals and under-five mortality meaning that as birth intervals increase, the probability of the under-five child dying decreases. The log hazard for short birth intervals are higher than long intervals showing that the risk of under-five mortality decreases with long birth intervals. The study recommends the use of birth intervals of more than 24 months and even more months if previously the mother had multiple births. There is also a need to improve the rural health system as it has been found that location has an effect on under-five mortality. Further research should be conducted on the effect of birth intervals on health outcomes because some effects may not lead to death but may be of very much impact on the life of a child.