[Ibadan Journal of Sociology, June, 2019, 9 ]
[© 2014-2019 Ibadan Journal of Sociology]77However, given the health disparities resulting from inequality in
the elements of social, economic and physical environments, Magnan
(2017) suggested that investments in education has shown some promises
on how health problems can be effectively mitigated through the mediating
influence of education with other elements of the social environments. For
instance, education will expose the knowledge of people and mothers in
particular to avoid smoking in the environment where under-five children
play around, immunize them appropriately against any disease, and keeping
regular check-ups with their doctors as at when due (Healthy People, 2010).
It is also believed that the quality of education acquired by mothers
of children in this age group will determine how safety measures can be
undertaken in the environment they live, maintenance of clean environment
safe for them, imbibing the culture of healthy food for under-five children,
good ventilation, and the maintenance of high standard of hygienic
environment for them regardless of the physical environment mothers are
located. In this study, the level of educational attainment of mothers is the
main socioeconomic variable of interest.
Maternal education has been observed in various studies as one
main determinant of child health indicators and child mortality (Semba et
al., 2008; Caldwell, 2009; Mulugeta, 2012; Behera, 2015; Shiva, & Dashti,
2017). Although urban poor may be at disadvantage of the use of urban
health care facilities for the under-five children, we assume that the level of
maternal education could still be a strong social factor that may influence
the health outcome of under-five children, which could lead to a reduction
in U5MR within this sub-group.
DATA AND METHODS
Secondary data from 2016/17 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
(MICS) was used for the analysis of this study having obtained permission
from UNICEF MIC Team to download the dataset. The 2016/17 Nigeria
MICS is the fifth in the series conducted in Nigeria. The sample and survey
methodology are well detailed in National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The 2017 Multiple Indicator
Cluster Survey 2016-17, Survey Findings Report is available at
https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/media/1406/file/Nigeria-MICS- 2016 - 17.pdf.
Data from household and birth history files were explored to
describe the level of education of the mothers and U5M among a sub-group
of urban sample using wealth index classification. The analytical sample is
from those who live in urban area, classified as poorest and second level
based on wealth index score and had given birth within five years preceding