Abstract:
Abstract
Background: Even though perinatal mortality has declined globally; it is still the major public health concern in
sub-Saharan Africa countries. Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan countries which contribute the highest-burden of
perinatal mortality with a devastating rate in some of the regions. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the determinants
of perinatal mortality in the high mortality regions of Ethiopia.
Method: A secondary data analysis was done using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data. The
outcomes of 4120 pregnancies reaching ≥ 7 months of gestational age were considered for the analysis. A multilevel
mixed logistic regression model was fitted to identify the predictors of perinatal mortality. Finally, a statistically significant
association was declared at a p-value of ≤ 0.05.
Result: The study found that birth interval < 2 years (AOR = 3.71, 95%CI:2.27, 6.07),having no antenatal care
(AOR = 2.43,95%CI:1.15,5.38), initiating breastfeeding after 1 h(AOR = 4.01,95%CI:2.49,6.51), being distant from health
institutions (AOR = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.24, 3.22), having previous terminated pregnancy (AOR = 4.68, 95%CI:2.76,7.86), being
mothers not autonomous(AOR = 1.96, 95%CI:1.19,3.20),being no media exposure (AOR = 2.78, 95%CI:1.48,5.59),being
households ≤ 4 family sizes (AOR = 4.12, 95%CI:2.19,7.79), having ≥ 6 parity (AOR = 2.48, 95%CI:1.21, 5.22) were associated
with a high odds of perinatal mortality.
Conclusion: The study concludes that birth interval, antenatal care, time for breastfeeding initiation, distance from
health institutions, previous history of terminated pregnancy, maternal autonomy, media exposure, family size, and
parity were predictors of prenatal mortality. Therefore, programmatic emphases to maternal waiting service utilization
for mothers distant from health institutions and media advertising regarding the complications related to pregnancy,
childbirth and on its respective direction that the mothers should follow could reduce perinatal mortality in high
mortality regions of Ethiopia.
