The role of rural-urban migration on child survival in Kenya.

Abstract

Migration in many developing countries is mostly motivated by the need to improve the well-being of individuals or household members. The aim of this study, therefore, was to establish the role of rural-urban migration on child survival in Kenya. Using a sample of 156,977 children pooled from six Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Kenya between 1989 and 2014 we compared child survival for five sets of paired migration statuses using odds ratios. The results of the odds ratio for the composite analysis show that children born to rural non-migrants, rural-to-urban migrants and urban-to-rural migrants were 31 percent, 15 percent and 33 percent respectively more likely to die compared to those born to urban non-migrants. Children born to rural-to-urban migrants were 12 percent less likely to die compared to those born to rural non-migrant women while survival chances were similar for children born to urban-to-rural migrants and rural non-migrants. When odd ratios are decomposed by socio-economic and health characteristics, the results suggest that most of the rural-to-urban migrants face adaptability challenges in urban region. From these results, we conclude that migration can affect child survival through the socio-economic and environmental adaptability capability of the migrant households. Policies on child survival should therefore aim at bridging the socio-economic gaps between migrant groups. Specifically, the progressive development policies at both national and devolved governance should aim at reducing the geographical socio-economic disparities.