SPATIAL INEQUALITIES in THE COVERAGE of UNDER FIVE DEATHS: ASSESSING VITAL REGISTRATION DATA in TÜRKIYE

Sahin BINGÖL , Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies
Andrea Verhulst, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Alanur Çavlin, Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies
Michel Guillot, University of Pennsylvania & INED

The neonatal, infant and under-5 mortality rates are important indicators of child health used by countries to monitor their health policies and compare with other countries. Coverage and completeness of registration systems is critical for the quality of these indicators, however under registration of deaths is still a major problem today, especially where registration systems are still in the process of being established particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In the last two decades, Türkiye stands out with its rapidly declining child and infant mortality, as well as its developing VR system. However, the completeness of under-5 deaths in the VR system in Türkiye has not been fully evaluated yet. The fact that the disadvantaged regions in Türkiye regarding the level of early deaths are less populated, poses the risk of neglecting the regions that need more investment and improvement in child mortality in terms of data quality. In this study, we improve the assessment of under-5 deaths at the national and regional level by using a recently developed model for estimating under-5 mortality. In this study, we apply “Vital Registration Model” at both the national as well as the regional level in order to assess the coverage of under-5 deaths in the VR system of Türkiye from 2009 to 2022. We found in the eastern regions confirm the risk of early death omissions in 2009. Nonetheless, in 2022 indicates a strong improvement in these regions according to our model.

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 Presented in Session P3. Migration, Economics, Policies, History