A Descriptive Study of the Vital Health Indicators of Four Sub‐Saharan African Countries, 1960–2012

Abstract

BackgroundThe importance of country‐level vital health statistics is recognized globally because of their use in initiating publichealth and development policies. Over the past few decades, economic growth has occurred in sub‐Saharan African countries, resulting in benefits to the population, such as increased access to quality health care and optimum nutrition. However, attaining the best possible levels of infant nutrition and maternal health remains a challenge.MethodsThe main objective of this study is to present aset of detailed time series analyses from 1960 to 2012 for selected health and wellness indicators, using country‐level aggregated data collected by the World Development Index (WDI) database of the World Bank, with specific focus on the countries of Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, and the Ivory Coast. The vital health indicators collected for this region can be used to analyze the health status of the vulnerable populations, epidemiological patterns, and the impact of economic growth on health outcomes; thus, we use these indicators to calculate descriptive statistics and identify trends that may inform hypotheses aimed at improving infant nutrition and maternal health. Gaps in the longitudinal record were imputed via polynomial smoothing. Linear trends over time and differences among countries were assessed using simple ANOVA models, and associations within countries were calculated using Spearman's rank correlation.ResultsSome general trends are common across the countries under consideration, but there are divergences. For example, although there has been a steep decline in infant mortality rates in all four countries since 1960, those of Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast generally tended to be higher over the period of study (p<0.001). Likewise, life expectancy at birth among women, while generally increasing over the period of study, reversed course between the mid‐1980s and 2000 for all four countries. However, this decrease in life expectancy was significantly more pronounced in the Ivory Coast (p<0.001). Interestingly, the vital indicators in Ghana are more strongly associated(either directly on inversely) with each other over time than in Burkina Faso, Togo or the Ivory Coast; this is due to more consistent improvements in these measures over time and more frequent reporting to the WDI. Indeed, all four of these countries had several measures with less than four records across the period of interest.ConclusionsSub‐Saharan Africa has seen a general improvement in selected health indicators, but it has been mixed and inconsistent across countries. Research efforts in this area are hindered by alack of data consistently reported over time.Support or Funding InformationNone