Microfinance Institutions and Gender Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

Simplice Asongu and Joseph Nnanna ()
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Joseph Nnanna: Abuja, Nigeria

No 26/040, Working Papers from European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS)

Abstract: This research examines the nexus between microfinance institutions (MFIs) and gender health. The current study adopts the quantile regression technique, which assesses the linkage between the variables of interest throughout the conditional distribution of gender health performance, to analyze data for 43 Sub-Saharan African countries. The study uses the risk of maternal death and female life expectancy as proxies for gender health performance, thus obtaining two key findings. First, the study results show that MFIs reduce the risk of maternal death, exclusively in the below-median quantiles of the risk of maternal death distribution. Second, MFIs improve female life expectancy throughout the conditional distribution of female life expectancy. The study further offers policy implications. The paper complements the extant literature by assessing how microfinance institutions affect gender health contingent on initial levels of gender health.

Keywords: Africa; Microfinance; Gender; Health Performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2026-01
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http://publications.excas.org/RePEc/exs/exs-wpaper ... b-Saharan-Africa.pdf Revised version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: Microfinance Institutions and Gender Health in Sub-Saharan Africa (2026)
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