Do information and communication technologies (ICTs) contribute to health outcomes? An empirical analysis

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and population health. The analysis is based on econometric model of population health in 184 countries using panel data spanning over 1990–2014. The analysis is based on fixed effects method on the basis of Hausman test. Besides, to deal with endogenous nature of ICT two stage least squares and system GMM are used in cross-sectional and panel data, respectively. Health is measured by life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rates. In this study, we measure ICT infrastructure using three proxies namely internet users, mobile cellular subscriptions, and fixed telephone subscriptions. The empirical results show a positive and significant impact of ICT on population health. This study recommends that health care programs need to focus on polices which foster digital inclusion.