No abstract

This paper investigates and compares country-specific sex differentials in childhood mortality in thirty sub-Saharan African countries. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) were analyzed to assess sex differentials in U5M rates before and after adjustment for individual, household, and community-level factors, using multilevel discrete-time hazard models. The findings show a systematically higher mortality for male children compared to female in all countries except Sierra Leone and Swaziland. The relationship is significant in nineteen of the thirty countries. Across the region, males have 17-54 per cent higher odds of dying before age five. These patterns remained when controls were added for individual and community-level factors, as well as unobserved community-level effects.