School of Insurance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China.
Institute of Business and Management Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 15;19(12):7338. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19127338.
According to the World Health Organization, lower-income countries suffer from adverse health issues more than higher-income countries. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to resolve these issues. Previous research has analyzed the theoretical and empirical causal effects of ICT on infant mortality at country-specific and global levels for a short period of time. However, the causes and results could be different in low-income countries. The objective of this paper was to examine the deficiencies through the use of panel data from 27 low-income countries from 2000-2017. We applied the predictive mean matching technique to supplement the missing data and then used panel data techniques (i.e., fixed effects (FE) and pooled common correlated effects (PCCE)), and system-GMM to estimate the causal effects. We compared the consistency and the possible heterogeneity of previous results using a set of robust techniques and empirical tests. We found that internet access and, to a lesser extent, cellular mobile subscriptions, two of the three ICT variables used in our research, had a significant positive effect on reducing infant mortality in low-income countries. In conclusion, governments and policymakers of low-income countries should consider the availability of internet-related ICT innovations and make them nationally accessible to reduce health crises such as the infant mortality rate.
根据世界卫生组织的数据，低收入国家比高收入国家面临更多的健康问题。信息和通信技术（ICT）有可能解决这些问题。先前的研究已经分析了 ICT 对特定国家和全球范围内婴儿死亡率的理论和经验性因果影响，但在低收入国家，原因和结果可能有所不同。本文的目的是通过使用 2000-2017 年间 27 个低收入国家的面板数据来研究这些缺陷。我们使用预测均值匹配技术来补充缺失数据，然后使用面板数据技术（即固定效应（FE）和共同相关效应（PCCE））以及系统-GMM 来估计因果效应。我们使用一组稳健的技术和实证检验来比较先前结果的一致性和可能的异质性。我们发现，互联网接入以及在我们研究中使用的三个 ICT 变量中的另一个移动电话订阅，对降低低收入国家的婴儿死亡率有显著的积极影响。总之，低收入国家的政府和政策制定者应该考虑提供与互联网相关的 ICT 创新，并使这些创新在全国范围内普及，以减少婴儿死亡率等卫生危机。
