ISSN 2326-7291
International Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology ISSN 2326-7291 Vol. 9 (7), pp. 001-006, July, 2020. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The impact of parental education on infant mortality in Gaza strip, Palestine
Mazen Abuqamar1*, Danny Coomans2 and Fred Louckx1
1Department of Medical Sociology and Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090 Brussels, Belgium.
2Department of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Vrije Universiteit, Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090 Brussels, Belgium.
Accepted 07 December, 2019
Abstract
A society's infant mortality rate is considered an important indicator of its health status. Maternal education has been accepted almost unanimously as a major socio-economic factor in infant mortality. In addition, it is one of the few measures of health status for which data are widely available in most countries. Many research studies have been done on this topic, but never in Palestine. This study was carried out in 2008 with the objective of determining the relationship between educational level of parents and infant mortality in the Gaza strip. Face to face interviews were carried out on 550 mothers of infants (275 dead infants and 275 live births) in the Gaza strip. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to identify the relationship between health behavioral factors and infant mortality. The result of this study showed that the families with lower educational level had a much higher risk of infant mortality. There was a positive statistical association between parental education and survival of infants. The findings underscore the importance of explicit attention to health education.
Key words: Parental education, social factor, infant mortality, Gaza strip.