Childhood mortality dynamics in developing countries: Quantifying the impact of breastfeeding towards achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The association between duration of breastfeeding and child survival is strong and positive. Breastfeeding together is one of the most effective crosscutting interventions to achieve all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With benefits of breastfeeding well documented, many of the developing countries still continue to report lower levels of breastfeeding thus causing recurrent diarrhea, Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), and other infections resulting poor nutritional status of children.

The objectives of this study are (i) to determine the impact of social economic determinants on duration of breastfeeding across low income countries and (ii) to recommend some policy actions that would enhance complementarity in the roles of breastfeeding on one hand and its role in accelerating achievement of child health related MDGs. Three periods: Pre-MDG period: 1995-1999, Early MDG period: 2000-2005, Penultimate MDG period: 2006-2011 will be considered. We model the contribution of breastfeeding as a determinant of childhood mortality between these periods using regression models. The response variable is infant mortality (death within 12 months), while the principal explanatory variable is duration of breastfeeding (in months). Data for selected countries for 1990 – 2011 in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South-east Asia will be pooled to examine contribution of each explanatory variable, including breastfeeding. Each country is allowed to appear once in each period. Preliminary results show that length of breastfeeding is strongly associated with use of antenatal services, and women's autonomy. Positive breastfeeding campaigns can accelerate achievement of MDGs especially among countries struggling to achieve child health related MDGs.