Effects of mother’s characteristics on child health in Kampala District, Uganda: case study of Kasubi Parish, Kampala district

Abstract

Introduction and Significance This study was conducted in Kasubi Parish, Kampala District. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of mother’s social, economic and demographic characteristics on child’s Health. Methods The research methodology for the study was a descriptive cross-sectional research design. The sample size was 98 mothers whose villages were first selected using a random number generator then finally the 98 mothers were chosen using the random number generator too. The researcher used questionnaires, observation and interviews to collect data and data was analyzed using STATA 15. In order to come up with clearer results, some variables were further grouped. Results Study findings indicated that Mother’s marital status was not a significant predictor of child health (p-value of 0.743 which is greater than 0.05), mother’s residential status was also not a significant predictor of child health (p-value of 0.433 which is greater than 0.05). The study results indicated that mother’s age, the number of children a mother lives with, the monthly household income, and her highest education level were significant predictors of child health since the significance value 0.039, 0.012, 0.001 and 0.050 were less than or equal to the usual critical value of 0.05. Conclusions The study concluded that in order to improve child health, mother’s characteristics such as their age, number of children they live with, monthly household income and their highest level of education should be paid close attention to.