Malawi 2015-16

• Any method of measuring childhood mortality that relies on the mothers’ reports (birth histories)
assumes that female adult mortality is not high, or if it is high, that there is little or no correlation
between the mortality risks of the mothers and those of their children.
Selected indicators of the quality of the mortality data on which the estimates of mortality in this chapter
are based are presented in Appendix D, Tables D.4-D.6.
8.1 INFANT AND CHILD MORTALITY
Neonatal mortality: The probability of dying within the first month of life.
Postneonatal mortality: The probability of dying between the first month of
life and the first birthday (computed as the difference between infant and
neonatal mortality).
Infant mortality: The probability of dying between birth and the first birthday.
Child mortality: The probability of dying between the first and fifth birthday.
Under-five mortality: The probability of dying between birth and the fifth
birthday.
In the 5-year period before the 2015-16 MDHS, the neonatal mortality rate was 27 deaths per 1,000 live
births. This means that 1 of every 37 children in Malawi dies in the first month of life. The infant mortality
rate is higher, with 42 deaths per 1,000 live births; these means that 1 of every 24 children dies before
celebrating their first birthday. The under-5 mortality rate of 63 deaths per 1,000 live births translates to 1
of every 16 children dying before their fifth birthday (Table 8.1). Two-thirds of all deaths in the first 5
years of life occur during infancy. About 43% of all deaths occur during the first month of life.
Trends: Under-5 mortality declined from 234 deaths
per 1,000 live births in 1992 to 63 deaths per 1,000
live births in 2015-16 (Figure 8.1). This represents a
73% decrease in under-5 mortality over a period of
24 years. Infant mortality declined from 135 deaths
per 1,000 live births in 1992 to 42 deaths per 1,000
births in 2015-16. Neonatal mortality declined from
41 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1992 to 27 deaths
per 1,000 births in 2004, and has essentially
remained at same level since then.
Patterns by background characteristics
• Mortality estimates by background
characteristics are calculated for the 10-year
period before the survey to ensure that there are
1992 2000
sufficient cases to produce statistically reliable estimates (Table 8.2).
Figure 8.1 Trends in early childhood
mortality rates
• Under-5 mortality is higher in rural areas than urban areas (77 deaths per live 1,000 births versus 61
deaths per 1,000 live births).
• By region, the under-5 mortality rate is highest in the Central region (81 deaths per 1,000 live births)
and lowest in the Northern region (57 deaths per 1,000 live births).
234
189
Infant mortality
135
104
Neonatal mortality
41
Deaths per 1,000 live births in the 5-year
period before the survey
Under-5 mortality
42
133
76
27
2004
112
66
31
2010
63
42
27
2015-16
112 • Infant and Child Mortality