Relationship between information and communication technologies and infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background: Infant mortality is a significant problem in developed countries, but is an even greater problem in developing countries. In 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported infant mortality in its African Region at 94 deaths/1000 live births compared to 7 deaths/1000 live births in the US. Health care in Sub-Saharan Africa is limited by both scarcity of resources and significant distances. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to improve health care by decreasing the significance of both of these factors. The ICT-Opportunity Index (ICT-OI) measures access to and usage of ICT by individuals and households and is determined by 10 quantifiable indicators. In the US the ICT-OI was 323.85 in 2005, while in Sub-Saharan Africa ICT-OIs range from 12.33 to 150.27. We hypothesized that countries with greater access to and usage of ICT have lower infant mortality. Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to quantify the relationship between ICT-OI and infant mortality. Methods: International Telecommunication Union ICT-OI data from 2001 to 2005 and WHO infant mortality data from 2000 and 2006 were analyzed using linear regression. In addition, other potential confounding variables (country Gross Domestic Product (GDP)/capita, country health expenditure (as percent of GDP), Gini coefficient, Human Development Index (HDI), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), and Networked Readiness Index (NRI)) were also analyzed utilizing linear regression. Results: Increasing ICT-OI was weakly associated with decreasing infant mortality with an R² value of 0.52. No significant correlation was found between the other variables and infant mortality. Conclusions: Although higher ICT-OI was associated with lower infant mortality, significant variance exists suggesting the importance of other factors. Further studies are needed (1) to determine variables that contribute to variance; (2) to evaluate the diffusion of technology; and (3) to define necessary health information and communication for improved infant outcomes.