[Ibadan Journal of Sociology, June, 2019, 9 ]
[© 2014-2019 Ibadan Journal of Sociology]72which people are born, grow, work, live, and age” (WHO, 2012, p. 1). As a
matter of fact, these conditions are shaped by different forces and systems
which ranged from economic policies, and political systems to social norms
(Marmot et al., 2008). This also implies that social forces (environment) of
child health such as maternal education (Caldwell, 2009; Afnan-Holmes et
al. 2015; Adeolu, Akpa, Adeolu, Aladeniyi, 2016; Bohra, Benmarhnia,
McKinnon, & Kaufman, 2016), residence (Kingsley, Isiugo-Abanihe, &
Chidi, 2017), income and wealth (Edomwonyi, 2016), as well as ethnicity
(Fayehun, & Omololu, 2011), play substantial role in determining children’s
chances of surviving their early days and years.
To be more specific, numerous studies have found that mother’s
level of education is a significant socio-economic factor on child mortality,
which determines to a large extent the knowledge and appropriation of
adequate and beneficial health care measures on children while taking
advantage of the available health care services (Semba et al 2008; Caldwell,
2009; Fayehun, & Omololu, 2011; Ayinmoro, Fayehun, & Ogunsemoyin,
2019). Shiva and Dashti (2017) also noted that the education of mothers is
a critical factor that influences family health, especially the health of the
child, both in LDCs and among poverty stricken populations, as well as, in
urban areas with access to basic health care facilities.
While it is understood that most urban centers have healthcare
facilities (Shiva, & Dashti, 2017); inequalities exist in their accessibility
(Gruebner et al., 2017) especially among the urban poor. More worrisome is
that urban poor are perceived to be at a great disadvantage in assessing the
basic and needed health facilities that abound in most urban centers (Unger,
2013). There is the belief that there is an indefinitely extensive gap between
the richest and the poorest in LDCs where there is high child mortality rate
due to the rising urbanization and emergence of urban slum settlements in
the cities (Siddiqui et al., 2016; Gruebner et al., 2017; UN IGME 2018).
The growing influx of people into cities has resulted into
differentials in the rate of U5M between the rich and the poor. Most of the
poor end up in places that are devoid of the basic social amenities such as
adequate school, health care system and electricity (Fink, Günther, & Hill,
2014). For instance, in a study on child growth in urban slums, Fotso et al.
(2011) observed that due to lower educational attainment of mothers, there
is no child health advantage especially mothers with primary educational
attainment when compared to those who had attained secondary and higher
educational qualification who at advantage in taking care of their children as
it relates to nutrition and health care despite the prevalence of poverty and
poor environment. This could be as a result of ignorance of the availability
of these facilities and other medical interventions or lack of basic
knowledge in taking advantage and maximizing these interventions even