The determinants of infant, child and maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, infant, child and maternal mortalities are very high compared to other regions. We estimate a cross-country empirical model of the determinants of those mortalities. We find, similar to other studies, that in addition to per capita GDP, health and education interventions can affect mortalities, however, the effect depends on the mortality rate being modelled. Importantly, the prevalence of the adult HIV / AIDS infection rate is detrimentally impacting mortality in the Sub-Saharan region.