Ethiopian children more likely to survive to adulthood in urban areas

A study published in the Journal of Perinatal and Paediatric Epidemiology this month shows significant differences in health outcomes of children born in urban and rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with those born in urban areas having an advantage.

This is probably the first time that a group of African children have been followed from birth to adulthood. Only one in four such children survive to become adults. Rural Ethiopian children face risks such as perinatal death, pneumonia and malaria, and nutritional problems. These differences were also marked in children living in the highlands and the lowlands as well as between rural and urban and periurban areas.

Researchers examined a group of children born during 1987 in and around Butajira, a small market town in a rural area on the edge of the rift valley. A total of 1884 live births formed the cohort, corresponding to a birth rate of 0.31 per woman a year. Perinatal mortality was 22 per 1000 live births, and infant mortality 65 per 1000 live births. Overall survival from birth to 18 years was 760 per 1000.

The study was undertaken by the Butajira Rural Health Programme in collaboration with the Centre for Global Health Research at Umeå University, Sweden.

The children received no special treatment as a result of being in the study, and so these results are probably a good reflection of reality.