The Impact of Internal Migration on under-Five Mortality in 27 Sub-Saharan African Countries

The literature on the impact of internal migration on under-five mortality in sub-Saharan Africa has been limited. This study examined the impact of internal migration on under-five mortality rate in 27 sub-Saharan African countries.

The analysis used cross-sectional data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys of 27 sub-Saharan African countries. Information on the number of live births and the number of under-five deaths in the five years preceding the surveys in these countries was examined. Using variables from which migration data were generated, four migration statuses were computed, and the impact of each migration status on under-five mortality was analysed by using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models.

Of the 96333 live births, 7036 deaths were reported. In the unadjusted model, we found that, compared to urban non-migrant mothers, hazard of under-five mortality was 20% [HR: 1.20; 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.06–1.35)], 40% [HR: 1.40; 95% CI: (1.29–1.53)], and 43% [HR: 1.43; 95% CI: (1.30–1.58)] higher among urban-rural migrant, rural non-migrant, and rural-urban migrant mothers respectively. The likelihood of children dying did not change considerably when country and demographic variables were adjusted for. However, after controlling for health care service utilization factors, the results remained consistently significant for rurality. That is, mortality rates remained significantly higher among children of rural non-migrant [(HR: 1.20; 95% CI: (1.08–1.33), P-value (p) < 0.001] and rural-urban migrant [HR: 1.29; 95% CI: (1.15–1.45), p < 0.001] mothers than those of urban non-migrant mothers.

Although under-five child mortality rate declined by 52% between 1990 and 2015 (from 179 to 86 per1000 live births) in sub-Saharan Africa, the continent still has the highest rate in the world. This finding highlights the need to consider providing education and health care services in rural areas, when implementing interventions meant to reduce under-five mortality rates among internal migrant mothers.