Study of Under-Five Mortality Patterns in Primary Healthcare Facilities in Benue State

Under-five mortality remains a critical public health indicator in North Central Nigeria, and analysing its patterns and causes in Benue State facilities provides essential local evidence for child health programme design. This study examined under-five mortality patterns, causes, and associated risk factors using health facility records from 40 Primary Healthcare Centres in Makurdi, Otukpo, and Gboko Local Government Areas, Benue State. Death registers and verbal autopsy records for 1,840 under-five deaths recorded between 2019 and 2022 were reviewed. Data were coded using the WHO International Classification of Diseases. Descriptive analysis, cause-specific mortality fractions, and logistic regression were applied. Malaria accounted for 34.2 percent of recorded deaths, followed by neonatal causes (24.7 percent), pneumonia (18.3 percent), diarrhoea (13.4 percent), and malnutrition (9.4 percent). The neonatal period represented the highest daily mortality risk. Deaths were significantly higher in facilities with no outreach services and in communities more than 10 kilometres from a referral hospital. Seasonal analysis revealed peak mortality between September and November. Children in the lowest wealth quintile had 3.7 times higher odds of dying from preventable causes than those in the highest. Recommendations include expanding integrated community case management to underserved LGAs, deploying skilled birth attendants to rural Benue facilities, and using seasonal malaria patterns to guide pre-season insecticide net distribution in the three surveyed LGAs.

Keywords: under-five mortality, child health, Benue State, cause of death, primary healthcare