Effect of Geographical Access to Health Facilities on Child Mortality in Rural Ethiopia: A Community Based Cross Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: There have been few studies that have examined associations between access to health care and child health outcomes in remote populations most in need of health services. This study assessed the effect of travel time and distance to health facilities on mortality in children under five years in a remote area of rural north-western Ethiopia. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This study involved a randomly selected cross sectional survey of 2,058 households. Data were collected during home visits to all resident women of reproductive age (15-49 years). A geographic information system (GIS) was used to map all households and the only health centre in the district. The analysis was restricted to 2,206 rural children who were under the age of five years during the five years before the survey. Data were analysed using random effects Poisson regression. 90.4% (1,996/2,206) of children lived more than 1.5 hours walk from the health centre. Children who lived ≥1.5 hrs from the health centre had a two to three fold greater risk of death than children who lived <1.5 hours from the health centre (children with travel time 1.5-<2.5 hrs adjusted relative risk [adjRR] 2.3[0.95-5.6], travel time 2.5-<3.5 hrs adjRR 3.1[1.3-7.4] and travel time 3.5-<6.5 hrs adjRR 2.5[1.1-6.2]). CONCLUSION: Distance to a health centre had a marked influence on under five mortality in a poor, rural, remote area of Ethiopia. This study provides important information for policy makers on the likely impact of new health centres and their most effective location in remote areas

Adverse pregnancy outcomes around incinerators and crematoriums in Cumbria, north west England, 1956-93

Study objective: To investigate the risk of stillbirth, neonatal death, and lethal congenital anomaly among babies of mothers living close to incinerators and crematoriums in Cumbria, north west England, 1956-93. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Logistic regression was used to investigate the risk of each outcome in relation to proximity at birth to incinerators and crematoriums, adjusting for social class, year of birth, birth order, and multiple births. Continuous odds ratios for trend with proximity to sites were estimated. Setting: All 3234 stillbirths, 2663 neonatal deaths, and 1569 lethal congenital anomalies among the 244 758 births to mothers living in Cumbria, 1956-1993. Main results: After adjustment for social class, year of birth, birth order, and multiple births, there was an increased risk of lethal congenital anomaly, in particular spina bifida (odds ratio 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.28) and heart defects (odds ratio 1.12, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.22) around incinerators and an increased risk of stillbirth (odds ratio 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.07) and anencephalus (odds ratio 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.10) around crematoriums. Conclusions: The authors cannot infer a causal effect from the statistical associations reported in this study. However, as there are few published studies with which to compare our results, the risk of spina bifida, heart defects, stillbirth, and anencephalus in relation to proximity to incinerators and crematoriums should be investigated further, in particular because of the increased use of incineration as a method of waste disposal