INFANT MORBIDITY ASSESSMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA Evidence

A profound indicator of public health is the quality of life of the infants in a population as they are the primary beneficiaries of a health system. An assessment of infant morbidity in contrast to infant mortality is pivotal in policy formulation and evaluation especially in terms of socioeconomic differentials to accessing health facilities. Research has attributed morbidity to sanitation issues, which included lack of electricity or piped water, parental literacy levels, anthropometric measures such as birth weight, and socioeconomic conditions. In particular, poverty has been singled to be a significant influence on health as it determines an individual’s environmental risks and access to resources to deal with those risks. This presentation will investigate infant morbidity in South Africa based on gender, race, settlement, province, and economic class. Chi-square tests of association and analysis of variance were conducted to assess the influence of the socioeconomic differentials on morbidity with a view to influence public health.