The Impact of Malaria Control on Infant Mortality in Kenya

Since the early 2000s there has been a rapid intensification of malaria control efforts across Africa. I exploit baseline differences in the regional incidence of malaria coupled with the sharp timing of the intensified campaign to investigate the impact on infant mortality in Kenya. Postintervention, I find a significant reduction in postneonatal mortality in the malarious regions relative to the nonmalarious regions. In contrast, I find no evidence of an impact on neonatal mortality, which is consistent with epidemiological literature that finds neonates enjoy significant protection from malaria. I rule out alternative explanations such as differential preexisting trends, changes in maternal and infant care, or the contemporaneous expansion of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. I find that the malaria campaign reduced postneonatal mortality by 33% in the malarious regions during 2004-8.