Abstract

This paper examines the impact of health status (proxied by life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate) and real per capita gross domestic product for a panel of twenty five Sub Saharan African countries over the years 1990 to 2005 with data observed once in every five years. The summary statistics of the health indicators in terms of life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rates and the prevalence of HIV and AIDS show a paradox that countries with high real per capita gross domestic product have their health indicators deteriorating. On the other hand, countries with lower real per capita gross domestic product have their health indicators improving. This result entails that wealthier nations are not necessarily healthier nations. The study uses the fixed effects estimation technique that controls for unobserved country specific heterogeneity. The sample of countries used in this study was split into two groups on the basis of the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. The first group is Southern Africa, where the prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS is above 10 percent for all the countries in the sample. The second group comprised of the rest of the regions of the Sub Saharan Africa (East, Central and West) where the prevalence of HIV and AIDS is less than 10 percent for all the countries in the sample. The results indicate that for a sample of countries from East, Central and West Africa, infant mortality rate has a negative and statistically significant effect on real per capita gross domestic product. Life expectancy at birth was found to have a positive but statistically insignificant impact on real per capita gross domestic product. On the contrary, it was found that for a sample of Southern African countries, infant mortality rate has a positive and statistically significant impact on real per capita gross domestic product. Life expectancy at birth in this sample of countries (Southern Africa) was found to have a negative but statistically insignificant impact on real per capita gross domestic product. This result is attributed to the fact that most Southern African countries have high real per capita gross domestic product but deteriorating health indicators due to high prevalence of HIV and AIDS.

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School	: School of Law, Economics and Government
Issued Date	: 2008

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