Date: 2008
Type: Working Paper
Mortality and Morbidity Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Adult Height
Working Paper, EUI MWP, 2008/41
AKACHI, Yoko, CANNING, David, Mortality and Morbidity Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Adult Height, EUI MWP, 2008/41 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/9857
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
In most developing countries, rising levels of nutrition and improvements in public health have led to declines in infant mortality and rising adult height. In Sub-Saharan Africa, however, we see a different pattern. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen large reductions in infant mortality over the last fifty years, but without any increase in protein or energy intake, and against a background of stagnant, or even declining, adult height. Adult height is a sensitive indicator of the nutrition and morbidity prevailing during the childhood of the cohort and can be taken as a measure of population health. Declining infant mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa appear to be driven by medical interventions that reduce infant mortality, and may not be reflective of broad-based health improvements.
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/9857
ISSN: 1830-7728
Series/Number: EUI MWP; 2008/41
Publisher: European University Institute