Saving Lives through Technology : Mobile Phones and Infant Mortality

Digital technologies can expand access to health services to underserved populations. This paper leverages mobile network expansion and survey data spanning two decades to study the impact of access to mobile phones on infant mortality in Africa. Using plausibly exogenous variations in lightning intensity and (sub)regional convergence in mobile penetration as instrumental variables for mobile network expansion, the analysis finds that mobile phones significantly reduce infant mortality. A 10 percentage point increase in mobile coverage is associated with a 0.45 percentage point reduction in infant mortality. Improvements in health knowledge and behavior and health care utilization appear to be plausible channels.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Mensah, Justice Tei, Tafere, Kibrom, Abay, Kibrom A.
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2022-03
Subjects:	DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ACCESS, MOBILE NETWORK EXPANSION, HEALTH ACCESS, INFANT MORTALITY REDUCTION, INFANT MORTALITY DATA, ACCESS TO MEDICINE, HEALTH INTERVENTION,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/394931647888314925/Saving-Lives-through-Technology-Mobile-Phones-and-Infant-Mortality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37200
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!