Under-age marital childbirth in north-west Nigeria: implications for child health.
Maternal and child health
32
Issue: 3
(12 - 2018)
Context/Background: Under-age marital birth is high in northern Nigeria. We explore the association
between under-age marital childbirth and child health indicators in north-west Nigeria.
Data source and Methods: Analysing NDHS 2013 data of 9,011 currently married women in
northwest Nigeria, with at least a childbirth in the 5 years preceding the survey, we explored the
implications of maternal age at first birth for child health outcomes (anthropometric measures and child
survival).
Results: The lowest age at birth in the region was |2 years. Binary logistics regression shows that odds
of child survival was highest among mothers aged 18 years and above at first childbirth by 52% (Cl:
1.17-1.97; p-value < 0.01). Finding suggests that poor child anthropometric outcomes is not associated
with under-age childbirth but other factors such as women education and wealth status in the study
area.
Conclusion: Early childbirth prevention interventions aimed at abrogating child marriages and
promoting girl child education are needed in the region.
Keywords: Child health; under-age birth; child marriage; girl child education; North-west Nigeria;
NDHS
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