Explaining Inter-regional Differentials in Child Mortality in Rural Ethiopia:

Using data from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 2016 for a total of 1,295number of under-five child deaths, this study examined the major determinants of inter-regionaldifferentials in under-five child mortality in rural Ethiopia. An extended detailed Oaxaca-Blinderdecomposition technique to negative binomial regression model was employed to examine therelative contribution of various factors to regional differentials in under-five child mortality.Findings of decomposition analysis indicated that large portion of the regional differentialsremained unexplained, being the lowest between Tigrai and Benshangul-Gumuz (12 percent) andthe highest in Tigrai-Gambella regions (37 percent). The explained regional gap was due todifferences in the distributions of measured factors across regions mainly attributable todifferences in short birth-spacing, higher birth-order, antenatal visits, women without education,home delivery, large household size, and poorest households' economic status. Hence,understanding inter-regional differentials in under-five child mortality and developingappropriate policies and strategies could further reduce the rate of under-five child mortality.On top of strengthening the health extension program in rural Ethiopia, this study suggests thatmore sustained efforts focused on improving households' economic status and women's educationshould be a prior agenda of the country.