The effect of health facility births on newborn mortality in Malawi

We examine the effect of health facility births on newborn mortality in Malawi using data from a unique survey of mothers in the Chimutu district, Malawi and data from the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2015. The study exploits two instrumental variables to overcome endogeneity of health facility births—labor contraction time and interaction of distance to health facilities and rainfall at birth. The results show that health facility births significantly reduce 7-day and 28-day mortality rates. We find suggestive evidence that readily available medical resources are the potential mechanisms through which health facility births reduce newborn mortality.