Open AccessUrbanization and Child Health Outcomes in Nigeria
Author(s) -
Olufunmilayo Olayemi Jemiluyi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of population and social studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.209
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 2465-4418
DOI - 10.25133/jpssv292021.036
Subject(s) - urbanization , proxy (statistics) , public health , gross domestic product , child mortality , infant mortality , ordinary least squares , environmental health , cointegration , developing country , economic growth , socioeconomics , economics , development economics , geography , medicine , econometrics , statistics , mathematics , nursing
Against the rising trend of urbanization in Nigeria and the accompanying dramatic changes in the urbanization process, this study explores the health advantage of urbanization in Nigeria. The study specifically examines the relationship between various child health outcomes. Secondary data on neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortalities were used to measure child health outcomes. By obtaining cointegration among the collected data, the study investigates the long-run relationships between the degree of urbanization and the various child health outcomes using the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares(FM-OLS) estimator. The results suggest the existence of positive relationships between urbanization and child health indicators. In particular, the results show that there exist child health advantages of urbanization, with urbanization having reducing impacts on the mortality indicators. Also, public health expenditure, literacy rate, and health aids are negatively correlated with measures of children mortality. In all the estimated models, the economic growth proxy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has an insignificant effect on all the measures of child health outcomes. The result implies the need to pay attention to the urbanization process for an effective health plan.