Child mortality in a Nigerian city: its levels and socioeconomic differentials

Using the 'indirect' demographic estimation technique, levels of child mortality for some selected socioeconomic characteristics of mothers in Ilorin, an urban community in Nigeria, were derived. The adjusted effects of these variables on child mortality were assessed. The variables found to exert significant independent effects on child mortality included the husbands education, area of residence in the town, the parity of the mother, her use of modern contraception, availability of indoor pipe-borne water and the use of a refrigerator by the household. Reliable or useful information on child mortality in this part of Nigeria is hard to come by, hence, the estimates provided here can serve as useful baseline data for evaluating the impacts of child survival activities that are currently going on in that part of the country.