Individual-and community-level determinants of neonatal mortality in the emerging regions of Ethiopia: a multilevel mixed-effect analysis

BACKGROUND: Unlike infant and child mortality, neonatal mortality has declined steadily in Ethiopia. Despite the large-scale investment made by Ethiopia to improve the health of newborns and infants, it is among the regions with the highest burden of neonatal mortality. Although there are studies done on neonatal mortality in different areas of Ethiopia, as to our search of pieces of literature there is no study in Emerging regions of the country. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the individual and community-level determinants of neonatal mortality in the Emerging regions of Ethiopia. METHODS: Using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data, secondary data analysis was done. A total weighted sample of 4238 live births in Emerging regions were included for the final analysis. A multilevel binary logistic regression was fitted to identify the significant determinants of neonatal mortality. The Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Median Odds Ratio (MOR), Proportional Change in Variance (PCV) were used for assessing the clustering effect, and deviance for model comparison. Variables with a p-value < 0.2 in the bi-variable analysis were considered in the multivariable analysis. In the multivariable multilevel binary logistic regression analysis, Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were reported to declare statistically significant determinants of neonatal mortality. RESULTS: The neonatal mortality rate in Emerging regions of Ethiopia was 34.9 per 1000 live births (95% CI: 29.8, 40.9). Being born to a mother who had no formal education (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.88), being born to a mother who did not participate in making health care decisions (AOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.79), and being twin birth (AOR = 6.85, 95% CI: 3.69, 12.70) were significantly associated with higher odds of neonatal mortality. On the other hand, being female (AOR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.95), having 1–3 Antenatal Care (ANC) visits (AOR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.74), high community media exposure (AOR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.98), and preceding birth interval of two to 4 years (AOR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.58) were significantly associated with lower odds of neonatal mortality. CONCLUSION: Neonatal mortality in Emerging regions of Ethiopia was unacceptably high. Maternal education, women’s autonomy in making decisions for health care, sex of a child, type of birth, preceding birth interval, ANC visit, and community media exposure were found significant determinants of neonatal mortality. Therefore, empowering women in making health care decisions and increasing access to mass media play a major role in reducing the incidence of neonatal mortality in Emerging regions of Ethiopia.