Pattern of Morbidity and Mortality among Children hospitalized at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife

Abstract

Background: The achievement of the Millennium Development Goal, particularly as it relates to child health is desired. A periodic assessment will serve to evaluate performance and dictate our future pace. Aim: To document the morbidity and mortality pattern among post-neonatal children managed at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, (OAUTHC) Ile-Ife, over a one-year period. Method: All the children admitted in the children's wards of the Ife hospital unit of the OAUTHCfrom May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007, were prospectively studied for the pattern of morbidity and mortality. Results: A total of 1082 children aged between 29 days and 14 years, were studied. Five hundred and ninety-nine (55.4 percent) were males. There were 283 (26.2 percent) infants; 501 (46.3 percent) others were aged between one and five years and 298 (27.5 percent) were older than five years. There were 97 (9.0 percent) deaths and 26 (2.4 percent) discharges against medical advice. The remaining 959 (88.6 percent) were discharged. The leading causes of morbidity were malaria (36.0 percent), septicaemia (11.0 percent), gastroenteritis (8.0 percent), road traffic injuries (8.0 percent), pneumonia (7.0 percent), and malignancies (5.0 percent). The leading causes of death were severe malaria (20.0 percent), meningitis (18.0 percent), septicaemia (14.0 percent), road traffic injuries (11.0 percent), and malignancies (8.0 percent). Conclusions: This study shows that the mortality rate was high and that infectious diseases were the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children in this centre during the period of study. Overhauling of the health care system of the country is desirable if the goal of the MDG is to be achieved. Perhaps a good starting point will be to make health care for children free and more easily accessible.