Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online) Vol.4, No.28, 2014 113 Determinants of Infant Mortality in Rural Kenya Omedi Gilbert 1 & Wanjiru Gichuhi 2 1 Director of Studies, Senende High School, P. O. Private Bag-50309 Kaimosi-Kenya Email address: gilynes@yahoo.com 2 Lecturer, PSRI, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197-00100 Nairobi-Kenya Email address: wgichuhi@hotmail.com Abstract Findings of 2008/09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey reveal that one in every 19 live births dies before age one. The most striking observation is the reversal in infant mortality based on type of place of residence. The report indicates that, unlike what preceding surveys reported, infant mortality is high in urban than in rural Kenya. This study used Cox regression analysis to examine the determinants of infant mortality in rural Kenya. Analytical results show that region, maternal age, birth order/preceding birth interval, and source of drinking water are significantly related to post-neonatal mortality in rural Kenya. Further, occupation of the mother, region, birth order/preceding birth interval, and source of drinking water were found to be significantly related to infant mortality in rural Kenya. Unlike in the case of post-neonatal mortality where births in Nyanza were found to be 154 percent more likely to die relative to those in Central, the study found Nyanza residence not to be significantly related to infant mortality. The study findings indicate that health policy initiatives meant to kindle family planning methods that shall result in increased birth spacing and reduced higher order births are welcome in the quest to reduce infant mortality further. Seemingly, maternal education is losing grip on early childhood mortality. Future research should focus on bringing out an understanding of the role of maternal education on infant mortality. Key words: post-neonate, infant, mortality, rural Kenya 1.0 Introduction Infant mortality level is a measure of how well a society meets the needs of its people especially newborns, infants and pregnant women (Omedi, 2011). This level of death, before the infants celebrate their first birthday per 1,000 live births, varies from time to time based on changes in the socioeconomic, geographic, biologic, demographic, cultural and environmental factors. These are some of the factors known to influence the infant mortality (Mosley & Chen, 1984). Differences in levels of infant mortality are known to vary with race, ethnic background, parental education especially maternal education, regions, maternal age and place of residence among other factors. Various studies have emphasized the urban advantage on infant mortality compared to rural areas. In Kenya, for example, this has been the case for many years. However, contrary to previous studies and surveys, KNBS & ICF Macro (2010) reported high infant mortality in urban than rural areas. Of Kenya’s 52 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births, the survey noted that infant mortality rate was 9 percent higher in urban than rural areas. Moreover, unlike the urban infant mortality that has seemingly stalled, infant mortality in rural areas dropped by 27 percent from 79 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the 2003 KDHS to 58 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the 2008/09 KDHS. This is at the backdrop of the notion that children growing up in rural settings within developing countries are most likely to experience poor health, a pattern generally attributed to socioeconomic disadvantage, poor health infrastructure and, as reported by Fox and Heaton (2012), the prevalence of certain reproductive norms, such as early maternal age at childbirth and short birth spacing. Therefore, this study sought to examine the determinants of infant mortality in rural Kenya so as to establish their effect on the survival status of infants in these areas. Since information on mortality remain essential for planning and research, it is critical to further our understanding in this subject area for improved provision of services, health planning and population projection. For the purpose of deeper understanding of the determinants of infant mortality, the investigation was expanded to include both post-neonatal and infant mortality. The central question was whether the determinants are the same for these different levels of early childhood mortality. Post-neonatal mortality included deaths between 28 days and less than one year of life while infant mortality included all deaths between 0 days and less than one year of life.