Survival Time Discrepancy among Under-Five-Year Children of Rural Parts of Ethiopia

Background: ethiopia is ranked as the fifth of heavy under-five death burdened countries with the highest burden in its rural areas. this study aimed to identify the determinants of under-five deaths in rural parts of ethiopia. study design: a population-based cross-sectional study. methods: the data for this study was extracted from the 2016 ethiopian demographic and health survey. descriptive analysis, non-parametric estimation, and cox proportional hazards regression model were used to examine the determinants of under-five mortality. results: a total of 7301 under-five eligible children from rural areas were involved in this survey, and 6.5% of the cases were passed away before reaching their fifth birthday. male children’s death accounted for 59.7% of the death rate in the participants. an estimated median survival time was 31 months [95% ci: 30-32]. about 83% of children’s death occurred among children delivered at home. cox proportional hazard regression model revealed that gender, delivery-place, family-size, mother’s education, number of children, contraceptive use, and source of drinking water had significant effects on survival time of underfive children. under-five mortality was significantly fewer in female children (hr = 0.728; 95% ci: 0.606- 0.875, p = 0.001), children delivered at health facilities (hr = 0.738; 95% ci: 0.572-0.951, p = 0.019), and those from secondary and above educated mothers (hr = 0.464; 95% ci: 0.301-0.714, p = 0.001), compared to the reference category. conclusion: significant risk factors were associated with under-five mortality in rural areas. delivering in health facilities, uses of contraceptives, mother’s education, and improvement of infrastructures should be areas of concern to decrease under-five children’s deaths.