The major challenges facing the health system in Iraq is critical damage over the past two decades, with significant damage to infrastructure and conditions that have forced a large number of the trained and experienced health staff leaving the country. Iraq today faces economic and human development challenges including poverty, malnutrition and insecurity. Such conditions result in fewer resources for social sectors, including health. The study aimed to assess the inequality level in children under 5 years across 6 indicators with 4 dimensions overtime in Iraq and was compared with other benchmark countries. A descriptive study was conducted based on data obtained from the two Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) (2006 and 2011) through the WHO health equity assessment toolkit (HEAT). Six Child health indicators such as (DTP3 immunization coverage among one-year-olds, children with diarrhea receiving ORS, children aged < 5 years with pneumonia symptoms taken to a health facility, underweight prevalence in children aged < 5 years, wasting prevalence in children aged<5 years and early initiation of breastfeeding (in the two or three years preceding the survey). Inequality were assess based on four inequality dimensions (education, place of residence, sex and subnational). Ratio and difference were used to compare inequality on residence and sex. Moreover, inequality regarding education level were determined with slop index. Theil index was also used to assess subnational regions inequality. For all dimensions used in this study, children in the richest urban households were are more receive immunization than children from the poorest households in all region. Female children were more received the service than male children. Inequality in DTP3 immunization coverage among one year’s old from rural area was high. However, early initiation of breastfeeding in the 2 or 3 preceding survey inequality was high among urban children than rural. Inequality among children those parents attained secondary education was lower than those from parents attained primary and no education. All the dimensions used to assess inequality were shown better access for all indicators. When we comparison Iraq with other countries such as Pakistan, Jordan, based on education status, Iraq was showed medium inequality coverage in wasting prevalence among children <5, however highest inequality in early initiation of breast feeding coverage than Jordan.
| Published in | World Journal of Public Health (Volume 1, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15 |
| Page(s) | 28-32 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Inequality, Indicator, Breastfeeding, Children, Iraq, Subnational, Immunization
| [1] | Iraqi Ministry of Health. Iraqi National Health Policy. Ministry of Health Publications; 2014. |
| [2] | Iraqi Ministry of Health. Iraqi National Strategic Plan (2013-2017) Ministry of Health Publications; 2012 |
| [3] | Iraqi Ministry of Health. Annual Statistical Report. Ministry of Health Publications; 2012. |
| [4] | Ministry of Health. National acceleration plan for maternal and child health in Iraq (2013-2015) Ministry of Health Publications; 2013. |
| [5] | Ministry of Planning. Central Statistical Organization. MOP Annual Report. Ministry of Health Publications; 2012. |
| [6] | Multiple indicator cluster survey (MICS). Monitoring the situation of children and women. UNICEF Final Report; 2011. |
| [7] | Ministry of Health. Iraq National Micronutrient Deficiencies (MNAR): Assessment and response (2011-2012) Ministry of Health Publications; 2013. |
| [8] | World Health Organization (2016). Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT). WHO website: http://www.who.int/gho/health_equity/assessment_toolkit/en/. |
| [9] | UNICEF and WHO, Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done, UNICEF, New York, 2009. |
| [10] | Al-Dabbagh SA, Al-Zubaidi SN. The validity of clinical criteria in predicting pneumonia among children under five years of age. J Family Community Med. 2004 Jan; 11 (1): 11-6 |
| [11] | Global Health Observatory indicator views. Available at http://www.who.int/gho/mdg/poverty_hunger/underweight_text/en/ |
| [12] | WHO Multicenter Growth Reference Study Group, “WHO Child Growth Standards: Length/height-for-age, weight-forage, weight-for-length, weight-for-height and body mass index-for-age: Methods and development” (Geneva, World Health Organization, 2006). Available from www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/Technical_report. |
APA Style
Abeer Gatea, Reza Majdzadeh. (2016). Inequality Analysis of Main Health Indicators Among Children Under 5 years / Iraq 2016. World Journal of Public Health, 1(1), 28-32. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15
ACS Style
Abeer Gatea; Reza Majdzadeh. Inequality Analysis of Main Health Indicators Among Children Under 5 years / Iraq 2016. World J. Public Health 2016, 1(1), 28-32. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15,
author = {Abeer Gatea and Reza Majdzadeh},
title = {Inequality Analysis of Main Health Indicators Among Children Under 5 years / Iraq 2016},
journal = {World Journal of Public Health},
volume = {1},
number = {1},
pages = {28-32},
doi = {10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjph.20160101.15},
abstract = {The major challenges facing the health system in Iraq is critical damage over the past two decades, with significant damage to infrastructure and conditions that have forced a large number of the trained and experienced health staff leaving the country. Iraq today faces economic and human development challenges including poverty, malnutrition and insecurity. Such conditions result in fewer resources for social sectors, including health. The study aimed to assess the inequality level in children under 5 years across 6 indicators with 4 dimensions overtime in Iraq and was compared with other benchmark countries. A descriptive study was conducted based on data obtained from the two Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) (2006 and 2011) through the WHO health equity assessment toolkit (HEAT). Six Child health indicators such as (DTP3 immunization coverage among one-year-olds, children with diarrhea receiving ORS, children aged < 5 years with pneumonia symptoms taken to a health facility, underweight prevalence in children aged < 5 years, wasting prevalence in children aged<5 years and early initiation of breastfeeding (in the two or three years preceding the survey). Inequality were assess based on four inequality dimensions (education, place of residence, sex and subnational). Ratio and difference were used to compare inequality on residence and sex. Moreover, inequality regarding education level were determined with slop index. Theil index was also used to assess subnational regions inequality. For all dimensions used in this study, children in the richest urban households were are more receive immunization than children from the poorest households in all region. Female children were more received the service than male children. Inequality in DTP3 immunization coverage among one year’s old from rural area was high. However, early initiation of breastfeeding in the 2 or 3 preceding survey inequality was high among urban children than rural. Inequality among children those parents attained secondary education was lower than those from parents attained primary and no education. All the dimensions used to assess inequality were shown better access for all indicators. When we comparison Iraq with other countries such as Pakistan, Jordan, based on education status, Iraq was showed medium inequality coverage in wasting prevalence among children <5, however highest inequality in early initiation of breast feeding coverage than Jordan.},
year = {2016}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Inequality Analysis of Main Health Indicators Among Children Under 5 years / Iraq 2016 AU - Abeer Gatea AU - Reza Majdzadeh Y1 - 2016/11/15 PY - 2016 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15 DO - 10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15 T2 - World Journal of Public Health JF - World Journal of Public Health JO - World Journal of Public Health SP - 28 EP - 32 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2637-6059 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20160101.15 AB - The major challenges facing the health system in Iraq is critical damage over the past two decades, with significant damage to infrastructure and conditions that have forced a large number of the trained and experienced health staff leaving the country. Iraq today faces economic and human development challenges including poverty, malnutrition and insecurity. Such conditions result in fewer resources for social sectors, including health. The study aimed to assess the inequality level in children under 5 years across 6 indicators with 4 dimensions overtime in Iraq and was compared with other benchmark countries. A descriptive study was conducted based on data obtained from the two Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) (2006 and 2011) through the WHO health equity assessment toolkit (HEAT). Six Child health indicators such as (DTP3 immunization coverage among one-year-olds, children with diarrhea receiving ORS, children aged < 5 years with pneumonia symptoms taken to a health facility, underweight prevalence in children aged < 5 years, wasting prevalence in children aged<5 years and early initiation of breastfeeding (in the two or three years preceding the survey). Inequality were assess based on four inequality dimensions (education, place of residence, sex and subnational). Ratio and difference were used to compare inequality on residence and sex. Moreover, inequality regarding education level were determined with slop index. Theil index was also used to assess subnational regions inequality. For all dimensions used in this study, children in the richest urban households were are more receive immunization than children from the poorest households in all region. Female children were more received the service than male children. Inequality in DTP3 immunization coverage among one year’s old from rural area was high. However, early initiation of breastfeeding in the 2 or 3 preceding survey inequality was high among urban children than rural. Inequality among children those parents attained secondary education was lower than those from parents attained primary and no education. All the dimensions used to assess inequality were shown better access for all indicators. When we comparison Iraq with other countries such as Pakistan, Jordan, based on education status, Iraq was showed medium inequality coverage in wasting prevalence among children <5, however highest inequality in early initiation of breast feeding coverage than Jordan. VL - 1 IS - 1 ER -
Information
Email: