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Multilevel Modelling of Child Mortality in Africa

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  • 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
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    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. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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(3-4), pages 286-299, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Engle, Patrice L. & Menon, Purnima & Haddad, Lawrence, 1999. "Care and Nutrition: Concepts and Measurement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1309-1337, August.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Blunch, Niels-Hugo, 2013. "Staying Alive: Adult Literacy Programs and Child Mortality in Rural Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 114-126.
    13. 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).
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    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.
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    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.

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    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

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