Decomposing Changes in Child Health Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa

David Pérez-Mesa, Gustavo Marrero and Sara Darias-Curvo

Journal of Development Studies, 2026, vol. 62, issue 3, 460-479

Abstract: We analyse recent changes in child health inequality in 15 Sub-Saharan African countries, identifying both observed and unobserved factors that contribute to these changes within each country. We also explore the cross-country correlation between changes in child health inequality and changes in mean child health. We use a regression-based decomposition approach to estimate the contribution of a set of factors to changes in child health inequality, which is fully comparable to existing decomposition methods used for mean child health. Observed characteristics include between-regional features related to geographical aspects and within-regional factors such as family background, mother’s demography, family structure, and home infrastructure. While child health inequality declined in most countries, the proportion of inequality explained by observed factors increased. Unobserved and between-regional features contribute to reducing health inequality, whereas within-regional factors related to family background and mother’s demography have increased it. These two groups of factors are behind the positive cross-country correlation between changes in child health inequality and changes in mean child health: their contributions worsen health inequality even as they improve mean health.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00220388.2025.2543248 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:62:y:2026:i:3:p:460-479

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FJDS20

DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2025.2543248

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Studies is currently edited by Howard White, Oliver Morrissey and Ken Shadlen

More articles in Journal of Development Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().