Forecasting the Future Trends of Under Five Mortality Rate for Cote D’lvoire Using Artificial Neural Networks

This study uses annual time series data on under five mortality rate for Cote d’lvoire from 1960 to 2020 to predict future trends of U5MR over the period 2021 to 2030. Residuals and model evaluation criteria of the applied model indicate that the model is stable in forecasting U5MR in Cote d’lvoire. The ANN (12, 12, 1) model projections indicate that U5MR will remain high over the out of sample period. Therefore, we encourage the government to allocate more resources to the maternal and child program. The government should address various challenges that significantly contribute to the death of under five children especially in the rural areas where access to quality healthcare services is a problem.