Household characterization and risk of infant death in the Kisenso Health Zone, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

The global situation regarding the risk of infant mortality is dramatic, with a child dying every 4 seconds. The Democratic Republic of Congo, a low-income country, is also affected by this situation, especially in the poorest areas of the country. This study was carried out to determine the socio-economic characteristics of households associated with the risk of infant death, in the Kinsenso Health Zone, in Kinshasa. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study of 422 households on their socio-economic characteristics and risk of infant death. We used logistic regression to investigate the relationship between binary variables and several independent variables. Our analyses reveal statically significant relationships between socio-economic characteristics and risk of infant death, with several study variables including distance from home to health center and infant death (p = 0.014) with OR= 2.56 (1.17-5.57), financial problems (p = 0.013) and OR = 2.90 (1.20-6.99), malaria (p = 0.000) and OR = 0, vaccination (p = 0.003) and OR=0.51 (0.32-080), quality of drinking water (p = 0.000), OR = 2.96 (1.79-4.89) and lack of adequate sanitary facilities (p = 0.000) with OR=0.40 (0.24-0.65). The risk of death among children aged 0-12 months is a major public health issue in the Kisenso health zone. Improving the socio-economic characteristics of households would therefore significantly reduce the risk of infant death.