| dc.description.abstract | Infant mortality is a major problem in the world with millions of children not surviving to celebrate their first birthday. Uganda has made some strides towards achieving its target of reducing infant mortality but it is unlikely the target will be attained. There is the need to identify factors that influence infant mortality to enable the right targeting of where, when and how public health resources should be channeled to address child health issues, improve health and avoid untimely deaths. The study sought to identify factors that affect infant mortality in Uganda and describe the mortality trends within the area. The population of interest in this study is women of reproductive ages 15-49 year in different regions of Uganda, who have ever given birth within the last five years prior to the survey. A total of 18,506 women are used as the sample in this study. The dependent variable is Infant Mortality, which is understood as the number of children who died before making one year by the time the survey/study was conducted. The independent variables include demographic and socio-economic factors/forces. The analysis of data was at two different levels that is to say univariate and bivariate levels, analysis were run in a statistical software package known as SPSS. The Bivariate findings showed that marital status and age of mothers were significantly associated with infant mortality in Uganda. The study recommends the government of Uganda, project planner’s policy makers, NGO’s and stakeholder that are responsible for the health of infants. On the basis of the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made to each level. Since mortality as well as infant mortality has been closely related to socio economic factors, it recommends for a need of deliberate efforts to improve the living standards of the rural residents. The study finally recommended for further research to be conducted in Uganda on the social services which aggravate the problem of infant mortality. Further research regarding development of appropriate intervention strategies to reduce infant mortality and morbidity in Uganda must be priotised. | |
