Statistical Investigation of Maternal Mortality Rates in Ebonyi State: A Regression Analysis Approach

This study conducts a regression-based statistical investigation of maternal mortality rates in Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria, one of the states with the most persistently elevated maternal death indices in the country. Maternal mortality remains a critical public health challenge in Nigeria, which contributes disproportionately to global maternal death statistics, and subnational analyses are essential for targeting intervention efforts effectively. Secondary data on maternal mortality ratios, skilled birth attendance rates, antenatal care coverage, health facility density, female literacy rates, and household income levels are obtained from the Ebonyi State Ministry of Health, the National Population Commission, and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey datasets for the years 2018 to 2022. Multiple linear regression models are estimated with maternal mortality ratio as the dependent variable and the aforementioned socioeconomic and health system indicators as predictors. Model diagnostics including tests for multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, and residual normality are carried out. Results show that skilled birth attendance rate and health facility density are the most statistically significant negative predictors of maternal mortality, while female illiteracy shows a strong positive association with mortality rates. The study argues for concentrated investment in community midwifery and mobile health outreach programmes in rural local government areas with the lowest health system coverage. Keywords: maternal mortality, regression analysis, Ebonyi State, public health statistics, skilled birth attendance