The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys

© The Author 2016. The impact of the quality of prenatal care on child mortality outcomes has received less attention in sub-Saharan Africa. This study endeavoured to explore the effect of the quality of prenatal care and its individual components on neonatal, infant and under-five mortality. The em...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Makate, Marshall, Makate, C.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Oxford University Press 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/65614
_version_ 1848761167739092992
author Makate, Marshall
Makate, C.
author_facet Makate, Marshall
Makate, C.
author_sort Makate, Marshall
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © The Author 2016. The impact of the quality of prenatal care on child mortality outcomes has received less attention in sub-Saharan Africa. This study endeavoured to explore the effect of the quality of prenatal care and its individual components on neonatal, infant and under-five mortality. The empirical analysis uses data from the three most recent waves of the nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey for Zimbabwe conducted in 1999, 2005/06 and 2010/11. The results indicate that a one-unit increase in the quality of prenatal care lowers the prospect of neonatal, infant and under-five mortality by approximately 42.33, 30.86 and 28.65%, respectively. These findings remained roughly the same even after adjusting for potential mediating factors. Examining the effect of individual prenatal care components on child mortality revealed that women who receive information on possible complications arising during pregnancy are less liable to experience a neonatal death. Similarly, women who had blood pressure checks and tetanus immunizations were less likely to experience an infant or under-five death. We did not find any statistically meaningful impact on child mortality outcomes of blood and urine sample checks, iron tablet consumption, and the receipt of malarial tablets. Overall, our results suggest the need for public health policymakers to focus on ensuring high-quality prenatal care to enhance the survival prospects of Zimbabwe's infants.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T10:27:22Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-65614
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:27:22Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Oxford University Press
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-656142018-03-29T09:09:13Z The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys Makate, Marshall Makate, C. © The Author 2016. The impact of the quality of prenatal care on child mortality outcomes has received less attention in sub-Saharan Africa. This study endeavoured to explore the effect of the quality of prenatal care and its individual components on neonatal, infant and under-five mortality. The empirical analysis uses data from the three most recent waves of the nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey for Zimbabwe conducted in 1999, 2005/06 and 2010/11. The results indicate that a one-unit increase in the quality of prenatal care lowers the prospect of neonatal, infant and under-five mortality by approximately 42.33, 30.86 and 28.65%, respectively. These findings remained roughly the same even after adjusting for potential mediating factors. Examining the effect of individual prenatal care components on child mortality revealed that women who receive information on possible complications arising during pregnancy are less liable to experience a neonatal death. Similarly, women who had blood pressure checks and tetanus immunizations were less likely to experience an infant or under-five death. We did not find any statistically meaningful impact on child mortality outcomes of blood and urine sample checks, iron tablet consumption, and the receipt of malarial tablets. Overall, our results suggest the need for public health policymakers to focus on ensuring high-quality prenatal care to enhance the survival prospects of Zimbabwe's infants. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/65614 10.1093/heapol/czw154 Oxford University Press restricted
spellingShingle Makate, Marshall
Makate, C.
The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys
title The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys
title_full The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys
title_fullStr The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys
title_full_unstemmed The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys
title_short The impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the demographic and health surveys
title_sort impact of prenatal care quality on neonatal, infant and child mortality in zimbabwe: evidence from the demographic and health surveys
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/65614