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Introduction
In developing countries, information on various notions of early life mortality (neonatal, infant and child mortality) is used to design strategies and programs for improving social sector services (Bjegovic-Mikanovic et al., 2018). The investment in childhood development (especially in the child's health) put the country on the paths of sustainable development and thriving (Reidpath and Allotey, 2003). However, healthcare interventions may neglect to stimulate a decrease in the early life passing, particularly in developing countries (Mueller et al., 2011; Maxmen, 2013; Moyer and Mustafa, 2013). The success of healthcare programs depends on a myriad of factors: adequacy, effectiveness, efficiency, timely implementation and above all, outreach to the vulnerable groups (Amin, 1996; Hosseinpoor et al., 2011; Bangura, 2013; Adewuyi et al., 2017). The majority of the globally driven child healthcare programs aim to target regions and countries that are battling with multiple challenges, including unabated infant mortality rates (IMRs).
Sub-Saharan Africa is included on the top in the rundown of the regions that have made slower improvement in the reduction of early life deaths during 1990–2017 (World Bank, 2017). The new born child death rates (IMR) have shown a critical decrease in various regions during 1990–2017 of the world. These have diminished by 68% in East Asia and Pacific, by 66% in Latin America and Caribbean and more than 55% in South Asia. The most minimal decrease (by 48% on average) has been seen in the sub-Saharan African countries during a similar period (United Nations Children's Emergency Fund, 2017).
Moreover, 21 countries (about half of all countries of the region) of sub-Saharan Africa have IMRs (ranging between 52.2 per 1,000 live births and 87.6 per 1,000) over the regional average (51.5 per 1,000 live births) in 2017. Ten countries of the region have the largest newborn child death rate in the world. They include: Central African Republic (87.6) Sierra Leone (81.7), Somalia (79.7), Chad (73.4), Congo (70), Lesotho (66.5), Mali (65.8), Equatorial Guinea (65.3), Nigeria (64.6) and Cote d'Ivoire (64.2) (World Bank, 2017). Many factors (biological, household, cultural, socioeconomic, the spread of infectious diseases, lack of accessibility and nonuse of healthcare services) have added to higher IMRs in the locale (Wagstaff, 2000; Chinkhumba et al., 2014; Bado and...