Correlates of the proximate determinants of child survival in rural areas of Yogyakarta and Nusa Tenggara Barat Indonesia

This study examines the relationship between socioeconomic variables and four proximate determinants of child survival in rural areas of the Special Region of Yogyakarta and the Province of Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia. The data used are from the 1982 Modular Survey conducted by the National Family Planning Coordinating Board. These two provinces represent the extremes of infant mortality in Indonesia with Yogyakarta having the lowest rate (62) and NTB the highest (187), according to estimates from the 1980 census. This study found that socio-economic conditions were better in Yogyakarta, and measures of the proximate determinants indicated that environmental conditions and personal illness control factors were also better in Yogyakarta than in NTB. This may partly be responsible for the lower infant mortality in Yogyakarta. One out of the four proximate determinants personal illness control - was found to be moderately well predicted by the socio-economic variables. The environmental conditions index was found to be less well predicted, whereas the other two proximate determinants - maternal factors and nutritional condition - were only marginally related to the socio-economic variables. Of the five socio-economic variables used in the analysis, three appeared to be positively related to the measure of personal illness control: mother’s education, father's education, and father’s occupation. These three predictor variables were also found to be better in Yogyakarta than in NTB