Dataset Information

Child Mortality Transition in the Arabian Gulf: Wealth, Health System Reforms, and Development Goals.

ABSTRACT: Background: Child mortality is the most crucial indicator of national progress and a reflection of not only the health system performance but also the wealth (budget) utilization and goal achievements. Many developing nations have recorded progress in this dimension but those of the Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates) show remarkable progress and achievements. Methods: Using the latest update of United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation 2017, an attempt is made here to review and appraise their achievements in child mortality reduction since 1950s taking into account Under 5 mortality, infant mortality, and neonatal mortality. Results: This review finds a rapid decline in child mortality in the Arabian Gulf in a short span of 50 years, which is in line with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Conclusions: There is a remarkable budget allocation and investment in health system building, improving the other contributing sectors like water, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and life style modifications apart from the usual health care interventions.

SUBMITTER: Salam AA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6978745 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Child Mortality Transition in the Arabian Gulf: Wealth, Health System Reforms, and Development Goals.

Salam Asharaf Abdul AA Al-Khraif Rshood M RM

Frontiers in public health 20200117

<b>Background:</b> Child mortality is the most crucial indicator of national progress and a reflection of not only the health system performance but also the wealth (budget) utilization and goal achievements. Many developing nations have recorded progress in this dimension but those of the Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates) show remarkable progress and achievements. <b>Methods:</b> Using the latest update of United Nations Inter-agency Group for C ...[more]

PMID: 32010657

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Project description:BackgroundWhile reductions in child mortality have been observed across sub-Saharan African countries in the last 30 years, narrowing the gaps in under-five mortality across socioeconomic groups also requires an understanding of the multiple associations between health and welfare and socioeconomic drivers. We examined the probability density distributions in under-five mortality within countries and joint pathways of under-five mortality and wealth over time.MethodsWe used 69 Demographic and Health Surveys and 19 Malaria Indicator Surveys from 30 sub-Saharan African countries, with each country having at least two surveys conducted since 2000. We constructed a cross-country wealth index and estimated under-five death prevalence. We examined the pure distribution in under-five mortality prevalence and the joint probability distribution of wealth and under-five mortality prevalence over time, including the area of confidence ellipse which spanned the two dimensions of mortality and wealth and covered 75% of the mass of the joint distribution.ResultsMost countries experienced decreases in under-five mortality along with increases in wealth over time. However, we observed great variations in the evolution of the joint distributions across countries over time. For instance, the areas of confidence ellipse ranged from 0.178 in Ethiopia (2000) to 1.119 in Angola (2006). The change (over time) in the area of confidence ellipses ranged from 0.010 in Tanzania to 0.844 in Angola between the 2000s and 2010s. The ranking of country performance on under-five mortality varied greatly, depending on whether performance summary indicators were based on disaggregation by wealth or on full non-disaggregated distributions.ConclusionsOur analysis points to the relevance of full distributions of health and joint distributions of health and wealth as complementary indicators of distributions of health across socioeconomic status, in assessing country performance on health.

Project description:Reducing child mortality is a key global health challenge. We examined reasons for greater or lesser success in meeting under-five mortality rate reductions, i.e. Millennium Development Goal #4, between 1990 and 2015 in Sub-Saharan Africa where child mortality remains high. We first examined factors associated with child mortality from all World Health Organization African Region nations during the Millennium Development Goal period. This analysis was followed by case studies of the facilitators and barriers to Millennium Development Goal #4 in four countries - Kenya, Liberia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Quantitative indicators, policy documents, and qualitative interviews and focus groups were collected from each country to examine factors within and across countries related to child mortality. We found familiar themes that highlighted the need for both specific services (e.g. primary care access, emergency obstetric and neonatal care) and general management (e.g. strong health governance and leadership, increasing community health workers, quality of care). We also identified methodological opportunities and challenges to assessing progress in child health, which can provide insights to similar efforts during the Sustainable Development Goal period. Specifically, it is important for countries to adapt general international goals and measurements to their national context, considering baseline mortality rates and health information systems, to develop country-specific goals. It will also be critical to develop more rigorous measurement tools and indicators to accurately characterize maternal, neonatal, and child health systems, particularly in the area of governance and leadership. Valuable lessons can be learned from Millennium Development Goal successes and failures, as well as how they are evaluated. As countries seek to lower child mortality further during the Sustainable Development Goal period, it will be necessary to prioritize and support countries in quantitative and qualitative data collection to assess and contextualize progress, identifying areas needing improvement.

Dataset Information

Child Mortality Transition in the Arabian Gulf: Wealth, Health System Reforms, and Development Goals.

Publications

Child Mortality Transition in the Arabian Gulf: Wealth, Health System Reforms, and Development Goals.

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