title: Underlying and state-level contextual determinants of early childhood mortality in Nigeria

authors: Umesi, Love Ugonna

subjects: Under-five mortality

abstract: Early childhood mortality has remained stubbornly high in Nigeria, even compared with other sub-Saharan African countries. Tragically, one in every eight children in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday and more than half of those deaths are from preventable causes. Nigeria’s high under-five mortality is indicative of the poor quality of health for the average Nigerian. Sub-national under-five mortality is even more worrisome given the vast differences in survivorship, ranging from a high of 252 deaths per 1,000 live births in Kebbi state (North West) to a low of 30 deaths per 1,000 live births in Ogun state (South West). These sub-national disparities highlight the importance of accounting for the hitherto unexplored impacts of community level background characteristics.

This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the determinants of under-five mortality in Nigeria from 2008 to 2018, focusing on the direct and indirect impacts of community context and socio-economic change. This approach is novel as most studies of under-five mortality in Africa have focused on individual and household factors. Using data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), I examined persistent inequalities in under five-mortality between states and within socio-economic groups. Analyses were carried out in three stages. Trends and patterns of under-five deaths in Nigeria, alongside individual/household level factors associated with it was done using 2008, 2013, and 2018 NDHS. Then data from 2018 NDHS was used to explore child survival function, incidence rates of death, and determinants of under-five mortality using Cox proportional hazards regression. While still focusing on the 2018 NDHS, the study was further extended to a multilevel analysis to investigate the community-level contextual factors associated with under-five mortality in Nigeria using mixed-effects logistics regression and Cox proportional hazards regression with random effects.

The results showed that under-five mortality in Nigeria was persistently high over the focal period. Generally, the hazard rate of death was highest at birth and in the first month of life. The study found that the composition of the community at the individual/household level, together with community level contextual factors were predisposing factors to under-five mortality. Hence, residence in different community context in Nigeria appear to significantly influence variations in under-five mortality between and across communities, geo-political zones, and states. More specifically, the proportion of hospital deliveries and proportion of children fully immunized in the community influenced early childhood survival. Child survival estimates and incidence of death also confirmed that under-five children in the North East and North West had lower survival probabilities than their counterparts in other geo-political zones. The findings suggest that effective measures to improve early childhood survival should look further than individual and household-level interventions to also address pertinent community contextual factors.

text: Underlying and state-level contextual determinants of early childhood mortality in Nigeria Early childhood mortality has remained stubbornly high in Nigeria, even compared with other sub-Saharan African countries. Tragically, one in every eight children in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday and more than half of those deaths are from preventable causes. Nigeria’s high under-five mortality is indicative of the poor quality of health for the average Nigerian. Sub-national under-five mortality is even more worrisome given the vast differences in survivorship, ranging from a high of 252 deaths per 1,000 live births in Kebbi state (North West) to a low of 30 deaths per 1,000 live births in Ogun state (South West). These sub-national disparities highlight the importance of accounting for the hitherto unexplored impacts of community level background characteristics.

This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the determinants of under-five mortality in Nigeria from 2008 to 2018, focusing on the direct and indirect impacts of community context and socio-economic change. This approach is novel as most studies of under-five mortality in Africa have focused on individual and household factors. Using data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), I examined persistent inequalities in under five-mortality between states and within socio-economic groups. Analyses were carried out in three stages. Trends and patterns of under-five deaths in Nigeria, alongside individual/household level factors associated with it was done using 2008, 2013, and 2018 NDHS. Then data from 2018 NDHS was used to explore child survival function, incidence rates of death, and determinants of under-five mortality using Cox proportional hazards regression. While still focusing on the 2018 NDHS, the study was further extended to a multilevel analysis to investigate the community-level contextual factors associated with under-five mortality in Nigeria using mixed-effects logistics regression and Cox proportional hazards regression with random effects.

The results showed that under-five mortality in Nigeria was persistently high over the focal period. Generally, the hazard rate of death was highest at birth and in the first month of life. The study found that the composition of the community at the individual/household level, together with community level contextual factors were predisposing factors to under-five mortality. Hence, residence in different community context in Nigeria appear to significantly influence variations in under-five mortality between and across communities, geo-political zones, and states. More specifically, the proportion of hospital deliveries and proportion of children fully immunized in the community influenced early childhood survival. Child survival estimates and incidence of death also confirmed that under-five children in the North East and North West had lower survival probabilities than their counterparts in other geo-political zones. The findings suggest that effective measures to improve early childhood survival should look further than individual and household-level interventions to also address pertinent community contextual factors.

year: 2023

title: Technological practice in early childhood as a dispositional milieu

authors: Carr, Margaret

subjects: early childhood education

abstract: This study investigated the learning of a group of four-year-olds as they worked in the construction area of a sessional early childhood setting. The researcher participated and observed as the children constructed with cardboard, rolled painted marbles around in a box to make Jackson Pollock style paintings, added collage and paint to pictures and constructions, and screen-printed cut-out figures and shapes of various kinds. These were described as technological practices, and five of them were compared as contexts for learning dispositions.
Although the literature had provided discussion and definition of dispositions in early childhood, the connection between the psychological notion of disposition and an historically or socioculturally framed dispositional milieu had not been researched. The study investigated empirical evidence for a transactional model of the interface between learning disposition and dispositional milieu, and learning dispositions were located in discourse, narrative and technological practice. The affordance of the technology and the tools played an important part in the transaction between individual and environment, in particular the technology's transparency, challenge, and accessibility. The five technological practices were analysed as complex sociocultural worlds in which multiple discourses jostled for privileged positions, children made decisions about whether discourse membership was for display or for exploration, they tackled difficulty with enthusiasm or avoided it in imaginative ways, and they engaged with others from a range of positions of power and responsibility. These sequences of events were described as learning narratives: historically and socioculturally co­constructed event structures about goals, challenge, and agency. A learning narrative was defined, identified, and investigated. 
Learning dispositions have been defined but not specified for early childhood. This study suggests that dispositions can be interpreted as parts of a learning narrative, and for this study key dispositional domains were identified as privileged discourses, preferred responses to difficulty, and favoured patterns of responsibility. Four learning dispositions emerged from these domains: courage, mindfulness, perseverance, and responsibility. These learning dispositions find a parallel in the strands of the early childhood curriculum document for Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki. The researcher followed up the observations by interviewing the children for their viewpoint on preferred responses to difficulty using an interview that reflected their experiences back to them as a picture book. 
Although much of the learning appeared to be attached to the context, and the privileged meaning and intent for that context was a key element, the transactional nature of the learning revealed individual learning dispositions and narratives that were developing in the early years and that may be robust and enduring.

text: Technological practice in early childhood as a dispositional milieu This study investigated the learning of a group of four-year-olds as they worked in the construction area of a sessional early childhood setting. The researcher participated and observed as the children constructed with cardboard, rolled painted marbles around in a box to make Jackson Pollock style paintings, added collage and paint to pictures and constructions, and screen-printed cut-out figures and shapes of various kinds. These were described as technological practices, and five of them were compared as contexts for learning dispositions.
Although the literature had provided discussion and definition of dispositions in early childhood, the connection between the psychological notion of disposition and an historically or socioculturally framed dispositional milieu had not been researched. The study investigated empirical evidence for a transactional model of the interface between learning disposition and dispositional milieu, and learning dispositions were located in discourse, narrative and technological practice. The affordance of the technology and the tools played an important part in the transaction between individual and environment, in particular the technology's transparency, challenge, and accessibility. The five technological practices were analysed as complex sociocultural worlds in which multiple discourses jostled for privileged positions, children made decisions about whether discourse membership was for display or for exploration, they tackled difficulty with enthusiasm or avoided it in imaginative ways, and they engaged with others from a range of positions of power and responsibility. These sequences of events were described as learning narratives: historically and socioculturally co­constructed event structures about goals, challenge, and agency. A learning narrative was defined, identified, and investigated. 
Learning dispositions have been defined but not specified for early childhood. This study suggests that dispositions can be interpreted as parts of a learning narrative, and for this study key dispositional domains were identified as privileged discourses, preferred responses to difficulty, and favoured patterns of responsibility. Four learning dispositions emerged from these domains: courage, mindfulness, perseverance, and responsibility. These learning dispositions find a parallel in the strands of the early childhood curriculum document for Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki. The researcher followed up the observations by interviewing the children for their viewpoint on preferred responses to difficulty using an interview that reflected their experiences back to them as a picture book. 
Although much of the learning appeared to be attached to the context, and the privileged meaning and intent for that context was a key element, the transactional nature of the learning revealed individual learning dispositions and narratives that were developing in the early years and that may be robust and enduring.

year: 1997

title: Vital evidence: Change in the marine ¹⁴C reservoir around New Zealand (Aotearoa) and implications for the timing of Polynesian settlement.

authors: Petchey, Fiona

abstract: Precise and accurate radiocarbon chronologies are essential to achieve tight chronological control for the ~ 750-years since Polynesian settlement of New Zealand. This goal has, however, been elusive. While radiocarbon datasets in the region are typically dominated by marine and estuarine shell dates, such chronological information has been ignored by those interpreting the timing of key events because a detailed regional calibration methodology for marine shell, comparable to the highly precise Southern Hemisphere calibration curve, is lacking. In this paper, we present the first temporal ¹⁴C marine offset (ΔR) model for New Zealand based on paired estuarine/marine and terrestrial radiocarbon dates from 52 archaeological contexts. Our dataset displays significant offsets between the measured New Zealand data and the modelled global marine radiocarbon curve. These shifts are associated with oceanographic fluctuation at the onset of the Little Ice Age ~ AD 1350-1450 (650-500 BP). The application of a regional and temporal correction to archaeological shell dates provides complimentary information to terrestrial radiocarbon production and has the potential to add structure to the blurred chronology that has plagued archaeological theories about the colonization of New Zealand, and other Pacific islands, for decades.

text: Vital evidence: Change in the marine ¹⁴C reservoir around New Zealand (Aotearoa) and implications for the timing of Polynesian settlement. Precise and accurate radiocarbon chronologies are essential to achieve tight chronological control for the ~ 750-years since Polynesian settlement of New Zealand. This goal has, however, been elusive. While radiocarbon datasets in the region are typically dominated by marine and estuarine shell dates, such chronological information has been ignored by those interpreting the timing of key events because a detailed regional calibration methodology for marine shell, comparable to the highly precise Southern Hemisphere calibration curve, is lacking. In this paper, we present the first temporal ¹⁴C marine offset (ΔR) model for New Zealand based on paired estuarine/marine and terrestrial radiocarbon dates from 52 archaeological contexts. Our dataset displays significant offsets between the measured New Zealand data and the modelled global marine radiocarbon curve. These shifts are associated with oceanographic fluctuation at the onset of the Little Ice Age ~ AD 1350-1450 (650-500 BP). The application of a regional and temporal correction to archaeological shell dates provides complimentary information to terrestrial radiocarbon production and has the potential to add structure to the blurred chronology that has plagued archaeological theories about the colonization of New Zealand, and other Pacific islands, for decades.

year: 2020