Inequalities in Children’s Survival in Cameroon: The Influence of the Mother’s Socioeconomic Status

Thierry Fondjo Lekane, Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT)

Few researches on determining factors of children mortality took into account the potential contribution of the mother’s status influence. In this paper, we construct a combined indicator of this variable using eight others to analyse its influence on the survival of children in Cameroon. The Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and the discrete-time logistic regression highlight a statistically significant and positive relationship between the chances of survival of children and the mother’s status. Overall, a high status of the mother, a preceding birth interval greater than 24 months and a delivery within 20-34 years contribute to increase the chances of survival of children, all things being equal. Therefore, the improvement of children survival passes through the enhancement of mothers’ and fathers’ educational level, the empowerment of mothers and fathers, the implementation of programs of family planning so as to encourage births spacing within couples and the reinforcement of programs of poverty alleviation.