Causes of under-five child Mortality in Tigray Region, North Ethiopia A retrospective verbal autopsy study

Background Understanding the causes of death is essential for implementing evidence-based strategies to reduce child mortality. In light of this, the present study assessed the causes of under-five child mortality using verbal autopsy methods in the Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in six districts of the Tigray Region. Health extension workers administered verbal autopsy interviews for all under-five child deaths that occur between May 1, 2013, and July 31, 2013. The 2014 WHO standardized verbal autopsy questionnaires were utilized for data collection. The causes of death were determined using the InterVA-4 algorithm, and cause-specific mortality proportions were calculated using SPSS software. Result A total of 469 under-5 child deaths were reported, and verbal autopsy data was collected for 393 (87.0%) deceased children. Infectious disease attribute for (80.4%) in the post neonatal deaths, including diarrheal disease (23.0%), malaria (20.0%), acute respiratory infection (18.5%), severe malnutrition (9.1%) and HIV/AIDS (8.7%) were the major causes of death. While neonatal pneumonia (35.9%), neonatal sepsis (25.0%), prematurity (18.8%), and birth asphyxia (12.5%) were of the major causes of death attributing to 92.2% neonatal deaths. Conclusion The study has provided reliable estimates of the common causes of under-five child deaths, emphasizing the potential to deliver valuable information for decision-making at district and regional levels. It also enhances coordination and data sharing with the vital events registration system to improve the accuracy and timeliness of child mortality data.