Determinants of Infant Mortality in Kenya based on Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022: Applying Cox proportional Hazards Model

Although the country has made great strides in lowering infant mortality, it is still lagging behind the Sustainable Development Goal target 3.2 adopted by the United Nations meeting in 2015, which targets neonatal mortality, a sub-component of infant mortality, of 12 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030 for preventable deaths. Five years before the Kenya demographic and health survey was conducted in 2022, the infant mortality rate was 32 deaths per 1,000 live births. The information was collected as part of a retrospective pregnancy history, in which female respondents between 15-49 listed all the children to whom they had given birth, along with each child’s date of birth, survivorship status, and current age or age at death. The study only considered infant deaths and live births between 2017-2022. The objective of the study was to identify the demographic, socio-economic and environmental factors that affect infant mortality in Kenya and their relative risks in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target 3.2. The study employed the Cox proportional hazards model to determine the relative risk of the factors. The result of the study showed that maternal age, multiple births, highest maternal education level, birth intervals, place of delivery, frequency of antenatal during pregnancy, and region have significant effects on infant mortality in Kenya. The study recommends policymakers and programme managers in the health sector formulate appropriate strategies to reduce infant mortality by creating awareness of these factors and improving them. They should also enhance their monitoring, evaluation, and reporting procedures to take appropriate remedial action.