Health care determinants of child survival in Pakistan.

Abstract

The authors examined the relationships between selected individual and household level factors and the survival of children under five years old based upon data in the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey of 1990-91. Analysis found that maternal age greater than 35 years enhances child survival. Mother's secondary and higher education have a net positive and significant influence upon child survival in urban areas only, with only a weak effect in rural areas; father's education is not a powerful net predictor of child mortality. Among health care factors, breastfeeding and having the child ever immunized are the most beneficial factors for both urban and rural children. Furthermore, household sanitary and living conditions do not appear to significantly influence the survival probability of children under five years old in both urban and rural areas.