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    PublicationOpen Access
    Determinants of under-five mortality in Africa: evidence from a two-decade panel analysis for public health policy
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2026-06-17) Rathnasekara, H; Jayathilaka, R
    Background: Child survival is a critical indicator for a nation’s health and its progress is important in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. Understanding the regional and country-specific dynamic and interplay of various determinants of under-five child mortality is vital for the African continent, which remains one of the most vulnerable regions for child mortality globally. Methods: This study investigates the association of economic, health-related, social and demographic, environmental, and infrastructure-related factors with under-five child mortality. It integrates generalisable regional associations using a standard fixed-effects panel model and examines illustrative country-specific associations of the selected determinants through multiple linear regression, based on a balanced panel dataset of 45 countries over a 22-year period. Results: Fixed-effect analysis reveals that the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) immunisation and total fertility rate (TFR) are robust regional determinants of under-five mortality across specifications. While health expenditure, sanitation services, and malaria incidence show significant associations in the baseline model, these findings are sensitive to the inclusion of year fixed effects, suggesting they are influenced by broader temporal trends or common regional shocks rather than serving as stable independent factors within the study period. Conclusion: Regional analysis, which controls for unobserved country-specific heterogeneity over an extended period and is complemented by country-specific analysis, facilitates the formulation of policy implications at both national and international levels. Recommended policy measures include increasing immunisation coverage, implementing malaria control programmes, strengthening community health infrastructure, enhancing girls’ education, promoting widespread access to modern family planning, and improving sanitation services. These strategies are expected to contribute to the progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 in the African region.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Unravelling the impact of fossil fuel consumption and urbanisation on black carbon emissions in Africa
    (Springer Nature, 2026-05-12) Pinnawala, P; Samarasinghe, B; Samarasingha, N; Wijethunga, P; Dharmapriya, N; Yapa, S
    Black carbon (BC) is a leading short-lived climate pollutant (SLCP) with profound health and climate impacts. This research investigates the impact of fossil fuel energy consumption (FFEC) and Urbanisation (URB) on black carbon emissions (BCE) in 34 African countries over the period 2005–2022. Data were analysed using a panel regression with fixed effects (x2 = 97.26, p < 0.001) to estimate the effects of each variable. Cross-country heterogeneity is further examined using country-level multiple linear regression (MLR) models. The fixed-effects model with clustered standard errors finds that fossil fuel energy consumption is weakly and negatively associated with Black carbon emissions. The average effect of countries in URB is not considered strong. In contrast, URB shows a positive and significant association with BCE in Eritrea, Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, and Zimbabwewhile FFEC shows a positive and significant impact on BCE in Ghana and Zimbabwe. These results indicate that poorly planned urban sprawl overlaps with energy poverty, as it dramatically increases BCE. Policymakers should focus more on implementing cleaner cooking facilities, reliable low-carbon electricity generation, and eco-friendly transportation modes to achieve BCE neutrality.