Infant mortality is a key indicator for any country’s socio-economic and health status since it
represents the current health condition of a people. The study set out to establish how maternal and
environmental factors affect infant mortality in Kenya. Secondary data from the 2014 Kenya
Demographic Health Survey was used to carry out this study, where a total of 7,128 live births
formed the sample for this study out of which 275 were infant deaths. Descriptive statistics and
Logistic regression were the main methods of data analysis.
Key findings from the multivariate logistic regression showed that region and birth order/preceding
interval were significantly related to infant mortality in Kenya. Mothers of birth order 4+ and <24
preceding birth interval were more likely to experience infant deaths compared to mothers of birth
order 4+ and >= 24 months preceding birth intervals. Mothers from Rift Valley region were less
likely to experience infant deaths compared to mothers from Nairobi region, while those mothers
from North Eastern regions were more likely to experience infant mortality compared to those from
Nairobi region.
The main implication from these findings is to for the government and other stakeholders to come up
with programmes to address the high risks associated with infant mortality in different regions as
well as incorporate the benefits of longer birth intervals into the Maternal Child Health programmes
(MCH).