Spatial distribution of mortality from leading notifiable diseases in Nigeria.

This study shows that a total of 36 notifiable diseases account for nearly all the reported deaths in Nigeria. When ranked by magnitude, measles, malaria, pneumonia, tetanus, dysentery and tuberculosis together account for 85% of all deaths. The objective of this paper is to gain an insight into the geographical distribution of deaths arising from these six leading diseases using the administrative states as the spatial framework. The data were obtained from the Statistical Unit of the Federal Ministry of Health and the emerging pattern of mortality is highlighted. An attempt is also made to identify factors that explain the observed variations among the states and the contiguous geographical regions in the country.