IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inn/wpaper/2015-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Multilevel Modelling of Child Mortality in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth Harttgen
  • Stefan Lang
  • Judith Santer

Abstract

Whereas child mortality has been decreased globally in the last 20 years, high levels persist in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper analyzes child mortality in 25 Sub-Saharan countries based on household survey data. We employ a new multilevel approach with structured additive predictor within the Bayesian framework. This allows us to take into account the hierarchical data structure and use the heterogeneity within and between countries as well as to assess non-linearities in the relationship between child mortality and socio-economic determinants. We find that household's economic well-being, mother's education and age, and geographical regions strongly influence child mortality risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth Harttgen & Stefan Lang & Judith Santer, 2015. "Multilevel Modelling of Child Mortality in Africa," Working Papers 2015-03, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    • Handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2015-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.uibk.ac.at/downloads/c4041030/wpaper/2015-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen & Sebastian Vollmer, 2013. "Economic Growth and Child Undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 397-412, September.
    2. Joshua Kembo & Jeroen K Van Ginneken, 2009. "Determinants of infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Results of multivariate hazard analysis," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 21(13), pages 367-384.
    3. Kenneth Harttgen & Mark Misselhorn, 2006. "A Multilevel Approach to Explain Child Mortality and Undernutrition in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 152, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen & Sebastian Vollmer, "undated". "Economic Growth and Child Undernutrition in Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-013, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    5. Janet Currie, 2009. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 87-122, March.
    6. Krivobokova, Tatyana & Kneib, Thomas & Claeskens, Gerda, 2010. "Simultaneous Confidence Bands for Penalized Spline Estimators," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 852-863.
    7. Bicego, George & Rutstein, Shea & Johnson, Kiersten, 2003. "Dimensions of the emerging orphan crisis in sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1235-1247, March.
    8. Case, Anne & Fertig, Angela & Paxson, Christina, 2005. "The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 365-389, March.
    9. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen & Sebastian Vollmer, 2013. "An African Growth Miracle? Or: What do Asset Indices Tell Us About Trends in Economic Performance?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 59, pages 37-61, October.
    10. Fay, Marianne & Leipziger, Danny & Wodon, Quentin & Yepes, Tito, 2005. "Achieving child-health-related Millennium Development Goals: The role of infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1267-1284, August.
    11. Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala & Gebrenegus Ghilagaber, 2006. "A Geo-Additive Bayesian Discrete-Time Survival Model and its Application to Spatial Analysis of Childhood Mortality in Malawi," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 40(6), pages 935-957, December.
    12. Bhalotra, Sonia & Rawlings, Samantha B., 2011. "Intergenerational persistence in health in developing countries: The penalty of gender inequality?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 286-299.
    13. Bicego, George T. & Ties Boerma, J., 1993. "Maternal education and child survival: A comparative study of survey data from 17 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1207-1227, May.
    14. Engle, Patrice L. & Menon, Purnima & Haddad, Lawrence, 1999. "Care and Nutrition: Concepts and Measurement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1309-1337, August.
    15. Blunch, Niels-Hugo, 2013. "Staying Alive: Adult Literacy Programs and Child Mortality in Rural Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 114-126.
    16. Clive J. Mutunga, 2007. "Environmental Determinants of Child Mortality in Kenya," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2007-83, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Ainsworth, Martha & Filmer, Deon, 2006. "Inequalities in children's schooling: AIDS, orphanhood, poverty, and gender," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1099-1128, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Harttgen, Kenneth & Lang, Stefan & Seiler, Johannes, 2019. "Selective mortality and the anthropometric status of children in low- and middle-income countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 257-273.
    2. Kenneth Harttgen & Stefan Lang & Johannes Seiler, 2017. "Selective mortality and undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries," Working Papers 2017-27, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck, revised Aug 2018.
    3. Kenneth Harttgen & Stefan Lang & Judith Santer & Johannes Seiler, 2017. "Modeling under-5 mortality through multilevel structured additive regression with varying coefficients for Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 2017-15, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pérez-Mesa, David & Marrero, Gustavo A. & Darias-Curvo, Sara, 2021. "Child health inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 108801, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. David Pérez-Mesa & Gustavo A. Marrero & Sara Darias-Curvo, 2020. "Child health inequality and opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 557, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    3. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen & Sebastian Vollmer, "undated". "Economic Growth and Child Undernutrition in Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-013, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    4. Harttgen, Kenneth & Klasen, Stephan, 2012. "A Household-Based Human Development Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 878-899.
    5. Owen Thompson, 2017. "Gene–Environment Interaction in the Intergenerational Transmission of Asthma," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(11), pages 1337-1352, November.
    6. Harttgen, Kenneth & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2013. "Using an asset index to simulate household income," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 257-262.
    7. Kenneth Harttgen & Stefan Lang & Judith Santer & Johannes Seiler, 2017. "Modeling under-5 mortality through multilevel structured additive regression with varying coefficients for Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 2017-15, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    8. Christelis, Dimitris & Dobrescu, Loretti I. & Motta, Alberto, 2020. "Early life conditions and financial risk-taking in older age," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    9. Verónica Amarante & Marco Manacorda & Edward Miguel & Andrea Vigorito, 2016. "Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Program, and Social Security Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-43, May.
    10. Bratti, Massimiliano & Mendola, Mariapia, 2014. "Parental health and child schooling," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 94-108.
    11. Annarita BALDANZI & Alberto BUCCI & Klaus PRETTNER, 2016. "The Effects of Health Investments on Human Capital and R&D-Driven Economic Growth," Departmental Working Papers 2016-17, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    12. Janet Currie & Tom Vogl, 2013. "Early-Life Health and Adult Circumstance in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, May.
    13. Cassandra Robertson & Rourke O’Brien, 2018. "Health Endowment at Birth and Variation in Intergenerational Economic Mobility: Evidence From U.S. County Birth Cohorts," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 249-269, February.
    14. Mark E. Mcgovern, 2013. "Still Unequal at Birth: Birth Weight,Socio-economic Status and Outcomes at Age 9," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 53-84.
    15. Flèche, Sarah & Lekfuangfu, Warn N. & Clark, Andrew E., 2021. "The long-lasting effects of family and childhood on adult wellbeing: Evidence from British cohort data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 290-311.
    16. Orla Doyle & Nick Fitzpatrick & Judy Lovett & Caroline Rawdon, 2015. "Early intervention and child health: Evidence from a Dublin-based randomized controlled trial," Working Papers 201505, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    17. Janet Currie & Mark Stabile & Phongsack Manivong & Leslie L. Roos, 2010. "Child Health and Young Adult Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(3).
    18. Deniz Karaoğlan & Dürdane Şirin Saraçoğlu, 2018. "Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Early Childhood Health: the Case of Turkey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 1051-1075, June.
    19. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Canuto, Otaviano & da Silva, Luiz Pereira, 2014. "On gender and growth: The role of intergenerational health externalities and women's occupational constraints," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 132-147.
    20. Gabriele Doblhammer & Gerard J van den Berg & Thomas Fritze, 2013. "Economic Conditions at the Time of Birth and Cognitive Abilities Late in Life: Evidence from Ten European Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-12, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child mortality; Sub-Saharan Africa; multilevel STAR models; Bayesian inference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2015-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Judith Courian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fuibkat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.