There are more children in rural areas - survey

The Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2011, has revealed that there are more children in the rural areas than in the urban areas.

The survey indicated that children in the rural areas are more likely to live in the poorest households and are under five years.


It noted that Ghana has the same proportion of girls and boys with 57 per cent of them living in the rural areas while 43 per cent live in the urban areas.


The study revealed that more children in the rural areas suffer from malaria than those in the urban areas yet households in rural areas have more access to mosquito treated bed nets.


The report showed that infant mortality in the rural areas are 56-94 deaths per 1,000 live births as compared to 46-72 deaths per 1,000 live births in the urban areas.


Infant mortality rate was estimated at 61 deaths per 1,000 live births for children from the poorest wealth quintile, 38 deaths per the same indicator for children in the wealth quintile, confirming the sharp contrast of health status between children in the urban and rural areas.

On nutrition, the survey revealed that one in every seven children representing 13 per cent under the age of five years is moderately or severely underweight, one in every four children indicating 23 per cent is severely stunted while six per cent are severely wasted.


These are children whose mothers predominantly have no education.


On breastfeeding, the survey showed that less than 46 per cent of all children from 0-6 months were exclusively breastfed, a level considerably lower than the recommendation by World Health Organisation.


The MICS sampled survey of households spanning women from 15-49 years, children from 0-5 years carried out in 2011 by the Ghana Statistical Service with financial and technical support from UNICEF, USAID, UNFPA, Japan, and National Malaria Control Programme.