scholarly journals Can Aid Improve People Health in Sub-Saharan African Countries?

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
W. Jean Marie Kébré

<p><em>This paper analyzes the effects of aid on health of people in Sub-Saharan African Countries. Used as health indicators for infant mortality rate, crude mortality rate and HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, this analysis uses panel data for a sample of 43 countries over the period of 1990 to 2014. Through assessing the effect of aid on reducing mortality and HIV prevalence, the article examines a central issue with regard to the new global development agenda: Can we still promote health through increased aid? The results tend to show that aid significantly reduces crude mortality and infant mortality rates and HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. They do not validate the presence of decreasing marginal returns. However, the impact of aid on health indicators is not linear. This non-linearity suggests that aid is more effective in reducing mortality and HIV prevalence in relatively poorest countries and in those with relatively lower health expenditure. Thus, health promotion in sub-Saharan African countries through increased aid is possible.</em><em></em></p>

Author(s):  
Arthur Evariste KOUASSI ◽  
Ya Assanhoun Guillaume KOUASSI ◽  
Nogbou Andetchi Aubin AMANZOU

Infant mortality is a major health problem in developing countries. It is an important indicator of a country's public health as it goes hand in hand with socio-economic conditions and many others. Public health spending has been committed to reducing this scourge. This has led to the completion of numerous studies which have yielded mixed results. The main objective of this study is to test the effect of public health expenditure (% GDP) on the infant mortality rate, taking into account the role that institutional quality can play. To achieve this, we use two approaches which are the autoregressive vector panel model with exogenous variables (PVAR (X)) and the smooth threshold regression model (PSTR) on annual data covering the period 2002-2016 and covering 37 African countries. Sub-Saharan. Our main results through the PVAR (X) reveal that in the absence of institutional variables, public health expenditure has a negative and significant effect on the infant mortality rate, whereas, in the presence of the various institutional variables, this effect is still negative but is no longer significant. Our results show that the presence of institutions halves the weight of public health expenditure in explaining the infant mortality rate. In addition, our results show through the PSTR that there is a certain level of institutional qualities that these countries must achieve for public health expenditure to positively affect infant mortality rates. These thresholds oscillate for all the institutional variables around 7%. Taking institutional variables into account will help reduce infant mortality in Sub-Saharan African countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (8) ◽  
pp. 4027-4033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Smith-Greenaway ◽  
Jenny Trinitapoli

We advance a set of population-level indicators that quantify the prevalence of mothers who have ever experienced an infant, under 5-y-old child, or any-age child die. The maternal cumulative prevalence of infant mortality (mIM), the maternal cumulative prevalence of under 5 mortality (mU5M), and the maternal cumulative prevalence of offspring mortality (mOM) bring theoretical and practical value to a variety of disciplines. Here we introduce maternal cumulative prevalence measures of mortality for multiple age groups of mothers in 20 sub-Saharan African countries with Demographic and Health Surveys data spanning more than two decades. The exercise demonstrates the persistently high prevalence of African mothers who have ever experienced a child die. In some African countries, more than one-half of 45- to 49-y-old mothers have experienced the death of a child under age 5, and nearly two-thirds have experienced the death of any child, irrespective of age. Fewer young mothers have experienced a child die, yet in many countries, up to one-third have. Our results show that the mIM and mU5M can follow distinct trajectories from the infant mortality rate (IMR) and under 5 mortality rate (U5MR), offering an experiential view of mortality decline that annualized measures conceal. These measures can be adapted to quantify the prevalence of recurrent offspring mortality (mROM) and calculated for subgroups to identify within-country inequality in the mortality burden. These indicators can be used to improve current understandings of mortality change, bereavement as a public health threat, and population dynamics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-44
Author(s):  
Gbenga A. Olalude ◽  
Hammed A. Olayinka ◽  
Oluwadare O. Ojo

The aim of the paper is to examine the mean reversion in health expenditure of 45 sub-Saharan African countries. The series on current health expenditure (percent of GDP in total), obtained from the World Development Indicators, each spanned the years 2000–2017. We employed the Fourier unit root test, which allows modelling structural breaks, to deal with any such breaks that could arise as a result of a small sample size (18 years) of data available on health expenditure of the selected countries. The results showed evidence of mean reversion in the health spending pattern of 27 sub-Saharan African countries. There is evidence of nonmean reversion in the health expenditure pattern of the remaining 18 countries considered. We further investigate the link between health expenditure and health outcome, using infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate as health outcome variables. An inverse association could be observed between the infant mortality rate and health expenditure and between the under-five mortality rate and health expenditure in 24 sub-Saharan African countries. On the other hand, in 13 other sub-Saharan African countries we observed a positive association between the variables. The findings of this study could be of great importance to healthcare delivery programmes in the studied countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Hapi Apriasih ◽  
Tupriliany Danefi

Seiring dengan  perkembangan zaman, masalah remaja makin bertambah di mana-mana khususnya di Indonesia.  Masa remaja adalah masa peralihan dari masa anak-anak ke masa dewasa. Masalah remaja di zaman ini bukanlah baru terjadi, tapi dari tahun sebelum-sebelumnya sudah sering terjadi, dimana masalah pada remaja yaitu pergaulan bebas,  tawuran, memakai narkoba, menonton film porno, meminum minuman alkohol, pesta pora dan masih banyak lagi masalah yang terjadi pada remaja.  Dan sekarang ini ada juga anak-anak yang masih duduk di bangku sekolah seperti SD, maupun SMP dan SMA sudah ada yang merokok, pergaulan bebas, meminum alkohol, menonton film porno, dan bahkan ada yang sudah hamil di luar nikah. Ini semua terjadi karena kurang adanya pengawasan dari orangtua atau keluarga, guru, dan pemerintah.  Masalah remaja tentunya  tak jarang lagi mendengar atau menonton dan bahkan melihat yang terjadi disekitar kita. Berdasarkan hasil Survei Kesehatan berbasis Sekolah di Indonesia tahun 2015 (GSHS) dapat terlihat gambaran faktor risiko kesehatan pada pelajar uisa 12-18 tahun secara nasional sebanyak 41,8 % laki-laki dan 4,1 % perempuan mengaku pernah merokok, 32,82 % doantara merokok pertama kali pada umur < 13 tahun. Gambaran faktor resiko kesehatan lainnya adalah perilaku seksual dimana didapatkan 8,26 % pelajara laki-laki dan 4,17 pelajara perempuan usia 12-18 tahun pernah melakukan hubungan seksual. Perilaku seks pranikah tentunya memberikan dampak yang luas pada remaja terutama berkaitan dengan penularan penyakit dan kehamilan yang tidak diinginkan serta aborsi. Kehamilan pada remaja tidak hanya berpengaruh terhadap kondisi fisik, mental dan sosial remaja tetapi juga meningkatkan resiko kematian bayi dan balita, seperti yang ditunjukkan SDKI 2012 dimana kehamilan dan persalinan pada ibu dibawah umur 20 tahun memiliki kontribusi dalam tingginya Neonatal Mortality Rate (34/1000 KH), Postnatal Mortality Rate (16/1000 KH), Infant Mortality Rate (50/1000 KH) dan under -5 Mortality Rate (61/1000 KH). Laporan triwulan Direktorat Jenderal Pengendalian Penyakit dan Penyehatan Lingkungan (Ditjen P2PL) mulai 1987 sampai dengan Maret 2017 menunjukkan bahwa tingginya angka kejadian AIDS di kelompok usia 20-29 tahun mengindikasikan kelompok tersebut pertama kali terkena HIV pada usia remaja. Di Desa Cikunir merupakan desa di wilayah Puskesmas Singaparna yang terdiri dari 3 dusun yaitu Gunung Kawung, Pameungpeuk, dan Anggaraja. Melalui kegiatan praktik kerja nyata mahasiswa Program Studi Kebidanan STIKes Respati Tasikmalaya melalui focus grup discucion (FGD) diperoleh informasi dari 35 responden remaja sebagai berikut 48,7 % belum mengetahui kesehatan reproduksi khususnya terkait infeksi menular seksual, 45,71 % sudah mempunyai pcar, 51,43 % tidak mengetahui tentang HIV/AIDS, 22,86% tidak mengetahui dampai pernikahan dini, dan 11,43 % setuju dengan pernikahan dini. Berdasarkan data tersebut diketahui bahwa pengetahuan remaja tentang kesehatan reproduksi remaja masih kurang dan akan berdampak pada permasalahan yang serius maka menjadi hal yang sangat penting untuk adanya upaya dalam hal peningkatan pengetahuan remaja , oleh karena diselenggarakan kegiatan penyuluhan tentang personal higyene dan masa pubertas pada remaja.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustapha Immurana

PurposeGhana is one of the countries instituting several measures toward attracting more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. This is because, FDI is largely viewed as essential to socioeconomic development. However, while population health can influence FDI inflows, it has received very little attention. This study, therefore, investigates empirically, as to focusing on population health could be a useful tool in Ghana’s attempt to attract more FDI inflows.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses time series data on Ghana from 1980 to 2018 to achieve its objective. Life expectancy, death rate, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and incidence of malaria are used as proxies for population health, while the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and the Instrumental Variable Two-Stage Least Square (IV2SLS) regressions are employed as empirical estimation techniques.FindingsUsing the OLS regression, except the incidence of malaria, the study finds all the other population health indicators to significantly influence FDI inflows. However, after controlling for endogeneity using the IV2SLS regression, all population health indicators are found to be significant as regards their effects on FDI inflows.Practical implicationsPaying attention to population health could be an effective strategy that can be employed by policymakers in the quest to get more FDI inflows into Ghana.Originality/valueThis study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study solely devoted to Ghana, which doing so helps in devising country-specific policies with regard to the effect of population health on FDI inflows. Further, this study becomes the first to use death rate, infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rate in examining the effect of population health on FDI inflows. Thus, since there are various causes of deaths, using indicators that capture deaths from all factors helps in giving a much broader picture with regard to the FDI population health nexus. Also, this study is the first to use up to five different population health indicators in examining the effect of population health on FDI inflows, which aids in revealing whether FDI is sensitive to the population health indicator used.


SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401769716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dillbeck ◽  
Kenneth L. Cavanaugh

These two studies tested the prediction that the group practice of a procedure for the development of consciousness, the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, by a sufficiently large group of individuals would be sufficient to reduce collective stress in the larger population, reflected in two stress-related health indicators, infant mortality rate and drug-related fatality rate. Based on theoretical prediction and prior research, from January 2007 through 2010 (intervention period), this effect should have been measurable. Change in the rates of these two indicators during the intervention period were estimated from 2002 through 2010 data using a broken-trend (or segmented trend) intervention model with time series regression methods. Significant changes in trend for both the infant mortality rate and drug-related fatality rate were evident at the predicted time and in the predicted direction, controlling for preintervention trends, seasonality, and autocorrelation. The changes in trend were both statistically and practically significant, indicating an average annual decline of 3.12% in infant mortality rate and 7.61% in drug-related fatality rate. Diagnostic tests are satisfactory and indicate that it is unlikely that the statistical results are attributable to spurious regression. The mechanism for these collective effects is discussed in view of possible alternative hypotheses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengqiao Wang

Abstract Background Health status in adolescents is difficult to evaluate and compare horizontally, vertically and longitudinally among different regions and nations of the world. Methods With repeated surveys conducted with relatively uniformed standards, the UNICEF Data warehouse compiles and publishes a wide spectrum of health indicators, of which data analysis and visualization would reveal the underlying statuses and trends on global, regional and national levels. Results Apparent geographic disparity is present in that sub-Saharan African countries lag far behind their counterparts in other regions with regard to most health indicators on adolescents. Education attendance rates sequentially drop from primary to secondary school levels, and display correlation with youth literacy. Harmful practices of early marriage, early childbearing and female genital mutilation have decreased but the presences of peer violence and sexual violence are worthy of attentions. Although incidence and mortality rates of HIV/AIDS have dropped (most notably in sub-Saharan Africa), adolescents’ HIV/AIDS awareness remains suboptimal in selected countries. Cumulative COVID-19 cases and deaths in the adolescents are comparable to the children but relatively lower than the adult and senior groups. Conclusions Findings on the health indicators of adolescents until 2019 reveal the most recent status quo for reference right before the hit of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Progresses made on the various health indicators as well as the associated disparity and inequality underlie the remaining gaps to fill for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.


Author(s):  
Harjot Kaur ◽  
Tarundeep Singh ◽  
PVM Lakshmi

Background: Infant mortality rate (IMR) is a sensitive indicator for monitoring child health and survival. Punjab state in North India is performing better than most of the other states in various health indicators. Punjab’s IMR has shown a rapid decline from 38/1000 live births in 2008 (Sample registration system (SRS) 2008) to 24/1000 live births in 2014 (SRS 2014). This study was planned to assess which of the maternal and child health services is associated with rapid decline in infant mortality rate. Methods: Association between various components of prenatal care, intranatal care and postnatal care, and child healthcare and socio demographic variables (taken from secondary data of District Level Household Surveys) and Infant Mortality Rate (taken from SRS) of Punjab was studied. Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated to measure the association between the variables. Results: Total fertility rate (TFR), women who had institutional deliveries, safe deliveries and mean children ever born are statistically significantly associated with decline in infant mortality rate. Conclusions: In Punjab, maternal and child health indicators are directly or indirectly associated with decline in infant mortality rate. Findings of the study demonstrate that the recent rapid decline in IMR of Punjab is strongly associated with increase in institutional deliveries and decline in TFR and the mean number of children ever born. 


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259304
Author(s):  
Julio Romero Prieto ◽  
Andrea Verhulst ◽  
Michel Guillot

Background The infant mortality rate (IMR) is a critical indicator of population health, but its measurement is subject to response bias in countries without complete vital registration systems who rely instead on birth histories collected via sample surveys. One of the most salient bias is the fact that child deaths in these birth histories tend to be reported with a large amount of heaping at age 12 months. Because of this issue, analysts and international agencies do not directly use IMR estimates based on surveys such as Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS); they rely instead on mortality models such as model life tables. The use of model life tables in this context, however, is arbitrary, and the extent to which this approach appropriately addresses bias in DHS-based IMR estimates remains unclear. This hinders our ability to monitor IMR levels and trends in low-and middle-income countries. The objective of this study is to evaluate age heaping bias in DHS-based IMR estimates and propose an improved method for adjusting this bias. Methods and findings Our method relies on a recently-developed log-quadratic model that can predict age-specific mortality by detailed age between 0 and 5. The model’s coefficients were derived from a newly constituted database, the Under-5 Mortality Database (U5MD), that represents the mortality experience of countries with high-quality vital registration data. We applied this model to 204 DHS surveys, and compared unadjusted IMR values to IMR values adjusted with the log-quadratic model as well as with the classic model life table approach. Results show that contrary to existing knowledge, age heaping at age 12 months rarely generates a large amount of bias in IMR estimates. In most cases, the unadjusted IMR values were not deviating by more than +/- 5% from the adjusted values. The model life table approach, by contrast, introduced an unwarranted, downward bias in adjusted IMR values. We also found that two regions, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, present age patterns of under-5 mortality that strongly depart from the experience represented in the U5MD. For these countries, neither the existing model life tables nor the log-quadratic model can produce empirically-supported IMR adjustments. Conclusions Age heaping at age 12 months produces a smaller amount of bias in DHS-based IMR estimates than previously thought. If a large amount of age heaping is present in a survey, the log-quadratic model allows users to evaluate, and whenever necessary, adjust IMR estimates in a way that is more informed by the local mortality pattern than existing approaches. Future research should be devoted to understanding why Sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries have such distinct age patterns of under-five mortality.


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