Achieving child-health-related millennium development goals: the role of infrastructure

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of three child-health outcomes related to the Millennium Development Goals: the infant mortality rate, the child mortality rate, and the prevalence of malnutrition. Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, the paper goes beyond traditional crosscountry regressions by exploiting the variability in outcomes and explanatory variables observed within countries between asset quintiles. The findings suggest that apart from traditional variables (income, assets, education, and direct health interventions), better access to basic infrastructure services has an important role to play in improving child-health outcomes. Key words--Millennium Development Goals, infant mortality, malnutrition, infrastructure