Female adult mortality in an urban settlement in South-West Nigeria

Bolatito Ogunbiyi, Population Action International, USA
Afolabi Bamgboye, University of Ibadan

The lack of reliable demographic data from conventional sources, occasioned by deficient vital registration system and periodic censuses, makes indirect estimating of demographic indicators imperative in Nigeria. This study generated estimates of female adult mortality in Mokola, South-West Nigeria. This single round cross-sectional study adopted a two-stage cluster sampling procedure to select 994 women aged 15-49 years from households between November 2006 and February 2007. Information on mothers’ survivorship was collected using a structured questionnaire while Timaeus’ variant of Brass’ Orphanhood method was adopted in generating estimates of female adult mortality. The proportion of respondents with mother alive reduced with increase in age of respondents. The adjusted female adult mortality level, summarized by the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 years (45q15) was 33.2/1000. The study suggests the need in investing in research and surveillance systems to improve on the estimation of mortality levels in Nigeria.