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ISDS 2016 Conference Abstracts

Cause of death in under 5 children in a demographic 
surveillance site in Pakistan
Muhammad Imran Nisar*, Muhammad Ilyas, Komal Naeem, Urooj Fatima and 
Fyezah Jehan
Pediatrics, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

Objective
To identify Cause of deaths among children below age of 5years 

from a prospective cohort of women in one urban and four peri-urban 
settings of Karachi, Pakistan

Introduction
Pakistan ranks 26th in Childhood mortality rates, globally. Pakistan, 

with other 4 countries is responsible for about half of the deaths of 
children age under 5. Despite such burden vital registration system 
is not well established, health facilities are not easily accessible and 
mostly deaths occur at home, making identification of cause of death 
(COD) difficult

Methods
From Jan 2007-Dec 2012 under-5 mortality was identified 

by CHWs during their 3-monthly visits. A Research Assistant 
conducted Verbal Autopsies (VA). Each VA form was analyzed by 
2 physicians, independently, and assigned a cause. VA is analyzed 
by a third physician in case two physicians do not agree on a cause. 
Cause Specific Mortality Fractions (CSMF) were calculated for each 
identified COD.

Results
833(58%) neonatal deaths and 591(42%) Under-5 deaths (excluding 

neonates) were identified. Among neonates most common CODs 
were perinatal asphyxia(30.4%), neonatal sepsis/meningitis(28%), 
pre-term birth complication(11%) and neonatal pneumonia(6%). 
For Post-neonatal deaths most common CODs were sepsis (19%), 
diarrheal disease (17%), Pneumonia (17%) and meningitis (8%).

Conclusions
We describe the CSMF for different CODs among neonated and 

children under 5. Strategies for prevention of most common causes 
and making health facilities easily accessible will decrease this 
burden.

Keywords
Mortality; children; neonates

Acknowledgments
Aga Khan University

*Muhammad Imran Nisar
E-mail: imran.nisar@aku.edu

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 9(1):e174, 2017