Research On The Influencing Factors And Countermeasures To Infant Mortality In West Africa

This study assessed the influencing factors and coping strategies for infant mortality in West Africa.Panel data from 2004 to 2015 were collected from a sample of 10 West African countries.In this study,the panel cointegration regression method was used to analyze the data with the modified least square method.The influential factors of infant mortality were examined and the generalized linear model was used for robust test.The results of this study suggest that among the distal factors,population growth,aid and health spending have significant effects on infant mortality.Population growth has a positive effect on infant mortality,while health spending and aid have a negative effect on it.With regard to intermediate factors,the findings strongly suggest that the effectiveness of government and access to basic utilities contribute to reducing infant mortality.In contrast,regulatory quality and maternal mortality are positive contributors to infant mortality.The results showed that the relationship between birth rate and infant mortality among proximal factors was not significant,but mortality had a negative effect on infant mortality.In formulating policies,special emphasis should be placed on poverty and research findings should be translated into organizational goals.Improvement strategies should be to improve average health(quality level)and reduce health inequality(equity level).The trade-off between efficiency and equity needs to be considered in policy design.Where data allow,empirical research needs to consider categorization by socioeconomic category or geographic region in order to provide more informative policy recommendations.From a policy perspective,it is particularly useful to focus on rural-urban disparities,as regional disparities tend to be more useful as a target predictor than income quintiles.