Effect of Maternal Mortality on Survival of Under-Five Children

AbstractWith regards to children who are born shortly before their mother's death (index), the cumulative proportion of survival up to 60 months of age was significantly lower (0.39 vs. 0.81) than those born just before the last child (penultimate) of the same mother. Such a difference is mainly due to high mortality in the first six months of age. Over the period between 1974 and 2005, survival improved among the penultimate but not the index children. For index children, the cumulative proportion of survival up to 60 months of age was significantly higher (0.79 vs. 0.51) if adopted by other households by the age of 15 days compared to those who stayed in their own households. Again for index children, the cumulative proportion of survival up to 60 months of age was significantly higher (0.82 vs. 0.70) for those who stayed in their own households where a grandmother was present compared to the presence of other female household members.KEYWORDS: child adoptionday-to-day carematernal mortalityunder-five survivalBangladesh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis research protocol was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Grant number- 09-93088-000-GSS). ICDDR,B acknowledges with gratitude the commitment of current donors providing unrestricted support, including the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh; Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Department for International Development, UK (DFID). We gratefully acknowledge these donors for their support and commitment to ICDDR,B's research efforts.