: Background: The under-
5 mortality rate in many developing
countries has shown little or no
improvement over the years. Ravaged
by war and poverty, violence
which is now a norm in most African
countries (including Nigeria) is
on the increase and has condensed
into most families with women and
children bearing the major brunt of
this violence.
Aim: Effect of maternal exposure to
intimate partner violence on under-
5 mortality in Nigeria.
Methods: Data from nationally
representative sample of mothers
(aged 15-49 years) was obtained
from the 2008 Nigeria Demoraphic
and Health Survey. Cox regression
and multiple logistic regressions
were used to identify and examine
the association between maternal
exposure to intimate partner violence
and under-5 death and use of
maternal and child health services
after controlling for potential confounding
factors.
Results: The prevalence of intimate
partner violence (IPV) in Nigeria is
34.9%. This may be lower than the
actual prevalence due to under reporting
of cases of IPV in most
developing countries. Women not
exposed to intimate partner
violence were 0.77 times less likely
to lose a child under-5 compared to
women exposed to intimate partner
violence (HR=0.77 95%CI 0.64-
0.81). Decision making autonomy
in family activities significantly
affected loss of a child under-5 in
the face of IPV. Similarly women
not exposed to IPV were 1.74 times
more likely to use maternal and
child health services compared to
exposed mothers (OR=1.74 95% CI
1.65-1.83). Age of mother, educational
status of mothers, social
class, occupation, marital status,
access to media and decision making
autonomy were retained as important
maternal predictors of use
of maternal and child health services
when exposed to IPV in multivariate
analysis (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Intimate Partner Violence
has a significant effect on
under-5 mortality. Therefore tackling
this social menace will not only
reduce the effect on child mortality
but also address the ill societal effect
that results from family collapse
following IPV.