Residential area as proxy for socio-economic status, paediatric mortality and birth weight in Lusaka, Zambia.
Systems of socio-economic classification comparable to the Registrar General's Social Classification or post codes are not readily available in many developing countries. Thus health data from developing countries are usually presented without a refined geographical focus. The hierarchical urban residential classification system in Zambia was used as a socio-economic proxy to explore the relationship with mass measures of paediatric health in Lusaka, Zambia. This study shows that the Zambian urban residential classification system appears to be a valid proxy of socio-economic status, revealing residential gradients with respect to birth weight and paediatric mortality rates in Lusaka.
Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Alder Hey, Liverpool, UK. ajmasiya@aol.com
A J Masiya
AJ
Mweemba
Elspeth
E
Webb
D001724:Birth Weight; D046688:Child Mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015024:Zambia / Q000453:epidemiology