Infant Mortality in West Africa: The Role of Climate

Peter Han and Jeremy Foltz

No 205730, 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Although infant mortality has decreased in the world in recent years, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are still struggling with high prevalence of infant deaths. Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and high resolution rainfall and temperature estimates, we investigate how weather conditions could affect an infant’s survival in Mali. Applying survival analysis, we find that high rainfall amount during the growing season and heat stress during the dry season negatively affect an infant’s survival in rural areas, but not in urban areas. Furthermore, there are significant prenatal weather effects on infants, suggesting that pregnant mothers’ exposure to heat, disease or malnutrition could negatively affect child health. The findings suggest that healthcare in rural communities should take a priority in public health policy debates in mitigating infant deaths in the future.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Health Economics and Policy; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 2
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea15:205730

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.205730

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