Twelfth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

The target to reduce infant mortality to at most 25 deaths per 1000 live births in 2030 is threatened in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, which current records 33 and 52 deaths per 1000 live births respectively. The study examines the economic, social and environmental factors militating against the attainment of the infant mortality target. The study employs dual methodological spectacles to analyze and confirm the outcomes from a panel of all South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa countries. The data were derived from The World Bank’s Publication of world development indicators, updated in 2021. The estimation techniques adopted were the Panel Least Square and the Robust Least Square estimators. The result shows that environmental pollution in the form of carbon emission per capita is the most significant impediment to attaining the SDG 3 target (25 infant mortality rate per 1000 in 2030) in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Fortunately, increment in per capita income would be the strategic action to attaining the infant mortality target in these regions, and it is imperative to promote maternal education through improvement in female school enrolment rates. The study concludes that it is imperative for South Asian and sub-Sahara African policymakers to not depend on public spending on social sectors and FDI as the panacea to addressing the scourge of infant mortality, and suggests that the strategic action should be a profound economic and political will to improve per capita income by enhancing economic growth and development within the context of environmental sustainability.