Peer-reviewed article
Under-five child mortality and associated factors among tribal populations from a South Indian district.
Yadlapalli Sriparvathi Kusuma, Penatapati Siva Santoshkumar, Tanguturi Madhu Sudhanarao, Dodde Rambabu, Bontha Veerraju Babu ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined under-five child mortality among tribal populations in Visakhapatnam district, India, involving 277 mothers who had given birth to 632 children. Fifty-six children died within 12 months. The research found that lack of local health facilities, woman-headed households, younger maternal age at first childbirth, and mothers aged 30 or above were significantly associated with child deaths. The authors recommend home-based neonatal care, health education to prevent early marriage and teenage pregnancy, and improved infrastructure and healthcare access for tribal communities.
Key points
- Under-five mortality rate of 8.9% (56 deaths among 632 livebirths) in the tribal population studied
- Living in villages with no health facility was significantly associated with child death
- Woman-headed households and younger maternal age at first childbirth were risk factors for child mortality
- Mothers aged 30 years or above were more likely to experience child death
- Home-based neonatal care and health education to prevent early marriage are recommended interventions
Limitations
This is a descriptive cross-sectional study without a comparison group, so causality cannot be established. The study is limited to one district in Andhra Pradesh and may not be generalizable to other tribal populations in India or other regions.
Abstract
This paper reports child mortality and associated factors among tribal (indigenous) populations from a South Indian district. In India, 104 million people belonged to 705 tribal groups, constituting 8.6% of India's population. Of the 705 tribal groups, 75 were classified as particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG). The present study aims to report the under-five child mortality among the tribal (both PVTG and non-PVTG) population in Visakhapatnam district, a district with a higher concentration of tribes in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Four sub-districts were selected to conduct a cross-sectional study to understand health and health-seeking behavior, including maternal and child health. Socio-demographic details and obstetric history were collected through a pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire from mothers with a child aged up to one year. These 277 mothers gave birth to 632 liveborn children, out of which 56 children died within 12 months. Multiple logistic regression revealed that living in villages with no health facility, woman-headed households, younger age at first childbirth and mother' aged 30 years or above were significantly associated with mothers experiencing child death. Implementation of home-based neonatal care is crucial in the vulnerability context of the tribes due to socioeconomic conditions and remote habitation. Health educational interventions to address early marriages leading to teenage pregnancies are needed immediately. This disaggregated analysis of under-five mortality and associated factors among the tribes highlights the need for population-specific interventions and improving infrastructural facilities like all-weather roads and improved access to quality healthcare services in addition to the overall socio-economic development.