Access to health care and mortality of children under 5 years of age in the Gambia: a case–control study
Merrin E Rutherford, John D Dockerty, Momodou Jasseh, Stephen RC Howie, Peter Herbison, David J Jeffries, Melissa Leach, Warren Stevens, Kim Mulholland, Richard A Adegbola & Philip C Hill
Volume 87, Number 3, March 2009, 216-224
Table 1. Characteristics of children under 5 years of age who died in the FDSS, the Gambia, between 31 December 2003 and 30 April 2006
| Characteristic | No. (%) |
|---|---|
| Age of child at death, in months | |
| 0–6 | 40 (28.6) |
| 7–12 | 29 (20.7) |
| 13–24 | 31 (22.1) |
| 25–60 | 40 (28.6) |
| Cause of death (n = 129) | |
| Fever of unknown origin | 30 (23.3) |
| Diarrhoea | 26 (20.2) |
| Pneumonia | 15 (11.6) |
| Meningitis or cerebral malaria | 17 (13.2) |
| Neonatal sepsis | 6 (4.7) |
| Vomiting | 3 (2.3) |
| Non-specific/other | 32 (24.8) |
| Place of death | |
| Hospital | 45 (32.1) |
| Health centre | 13 (9.3) |
| Home | 74 (52.9) |
| Other | 8 (5.7) |
| Duration of illness, in days | |
| 1–2 | 76 (54.3) |
| 3–7 | 42 (30.0) |
| 8–14 | 10 (7.1) |
| 15–30 | 6 (4.3) |
| > 31 | 6 (4.3) |
| Highest level of treatment received for illness | |
| Health centre | 60 (42.9) |
| Hospital | 65 (46.4) |
| Village health worker | 5 (3.6) |
| Traditional healer/marabout | 5 (3.6) |
| Private physician/pharmacist/drug shop keeper | 4 (2.9) |
| Unknown | 1 (0.7) |
FDSS, Farafenni demographic surveillance system.