Causes of Mortality in Children 1-59 Months in Yemen

Abstract

Child mortality is a sensitive indicator of a country’s development and telling evidence of its priorities and values. The study aimed to determine the common causes of death among children under 5 years of age who admitted and died in Al-Mukalla public hospitals , Yemen. This was a retrospective study. The files of all children aged 1-59 months who admitted into the pediatric wards at Mukalla City Hospital and University Hospital for Gynecology , Obstetric and pediatric and died during the study period from the 1st of January 2011 to the 31st of December 2014 were reviewed. Out of 5859 admissions on children under 5 years of age, 898 deaths (15.3%) were recorded. More than (92.3%) of child deaths occurred in the age group 1 to 11-month, the majority (60.2%) of the dead children were boys. The majority (75%) of deceased children were residents in Hadhramout governorate (coast and Al-Wadi) followed by Shabwah governorate (20.0%). Most of the deaths occurred in the year 2014. The study showed that, the most common causes of mortality were the prematurity (35.6%), followed by infectious and respiratory diseases (21.6% and 19.6%) respectively. It was concluded that, the child mortality rate in the current study is high when compared to other regions in Yemen and in developing countries. Differences were also found between causes of death in Yemen and elsewhere. An urgent need to introduce health interventions to improve essential childhood care.