Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Impact of ICT Development on Health Outcomes in Africa: Does Economic Freedom Matter?

  • Published:
Journal of the Knowledge Economy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study aims to (i) examine the role of economic freedom in ICT diffusion in Africa and (ii) examine how economic freedom complements ICT development to influence health outcomes in thirty-five (35) African countries for the period 2000–2016. Health outcome is measured by the under-five mortality, an ICT development index is constructed, and the Index of Economic Freedom of the Heritage Foundation is used. First, the results show that economic freedom is necessary for ICT diffusion, but the mechanism generating the diffusion effect is not valid beyond 2 consecutive years. Second, the net effect on under-five mortality is negative from the complementarity between economic freedom and ICT development. Overall, the results suggest that economic freedom matters in the relationship between ICT development and health outcomes by playing a critical role in enhancing ICT diffusion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Goal 4: reduce mortality of children under 5 years of age; goal 5: improve maternal health; goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

  2. Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative

  3. Of the USD 16.7 billion health expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa in 2005, approximately 50% came from the private sector (World Bank 2008).

  4. According to the 2019 GSM Association (GSMA) Mobile economy report (GSMA 2019), at the end of 2018, 4G networks accounted for 7% of mobile connections in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to the global average of 44%.

  5. In this paper, ICT diffusion and ICT development are used interchangeably.

  6. This is a machine or application connected to the Internet with an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

  7. E-health is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for health (WHO 2006, p. vii).

  8. These countries are: Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, and Iran.

  9. \( \mathrm{ICT}=\frac{X-{X}_{\mathrm{min}}}{X_{\mathrm{max}}-{X}_{\mathrm{min}}}\times 100 \) where X is the index computed with the principal component analysis.

  10. We acknowledge the data limitations, particularly where technological revolutions in Africa are constantly evolving and, over the last four years, a large number of new technologies and products have had a tremendous impact on people’s lifestyle and the whole society. But despite the fact that the study period ends in 2016, the conclusions of the analysis have guiding significance for the current social and economic development which are discussed in this section. These discussions also highlight the actual value of the results. Although the continent is making considerable efforts to overcome the challenges that characterize it, between 2016 and today, most of these challenges are still relevant. So, the new ideas developed in this paper can still be embodied in the timeliness.

References

  • Ahadzadeh, A. S., Sharif, S. P., Ong, F. S., & Khong, K. W. (2015). Integrating health belief model and technology acceptance model: an investigation of health-related internet use. Journal of medical Internet research, 17(2), e45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahangama, S., & Poo, D. C. (2012). Moderating effect of environmental factors on eHealth development and health outcomes: a country-level analysis. In Shaping the Future of ICT Research. Methods and Approaches (143-159).

  • Ahn, S., & Schmidt, P. (1995). Efficient estimation of models for dynamic panel data. Journal of Econometrics, 68(1), 5–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akanni, O. L. (2012). Public Healthcare financing and health outcomes in Sub Saharan African countries. Economics of health system governance and financing in Nigeria.

  • Anthopolos, R., & Becker, C. M. (2010). Global infant mortality: correcting for undercounting. World Dev., 38, 467–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anyanwu, J. C., & Erhijakpor, A. E. O. (2009). Health expenditures and health outcomes in africa. African Development Review, 21(2), 400–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8268.2009.00215.

  • Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. The Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arellano, M., & Bover, O. (1995). Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models. Journal of Econometrics, 68(1), 29–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, E., & Oaikhenan, H. E. (2017). The effects of health expenditure on health outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). African Development Review, 29(3), 524–536.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashby, N., Martinez, D., & Bueno, A. (2010). Economic freedom in Mexico 2011. In Chapter 4 in Economic Freedom of North America (Vol. 2011, pp. 51–64). Vancouver: Fraser Institute.

  • Asongu, S. A. (2018). Conditional determinants of mobile phones penetration and mobile banking in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 9, 81–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asongu, S. A., & Le Roux, S. (2017). Enhancing ICT for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 118, 44–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asongu, S. A., Nwachukwu, J. C., & Orim, S. I. (2018). Mobile phones, institutional quality and entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 131, 183–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baliamoune-Lutz, M. (2003). An analysis of the determinants and effects of ICT diffusion in developing countries. Information Technology for Development, 10(3), 151–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, M. J., & Lillis, J. (2001). E-health: transforming the physician/patient relationship. International journal of medical informatics, 61(1), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baltagi, B. H. (2008). Econometric analysis of panel data. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd..

    Google Scholar 

  • Belasen, A., & Hafer, R. (2012). Well-being and economic freedom: Evidence from the states. Intelligence, 40, 306–316.

  • Bjørnskov, C., & Foss, N. J. (2008). Economic freedom and entrepreneurial activity: Some cross-country evidence. Public Choice, 134(3-4), 307–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blind, K., Petersen, S. S., & Riillo, C. A. (2017). The impact of standards and regulation on innovation in uncertain markets. Research Policy, 46(1), 249–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blundell, R., & Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of econometrics, 87(1), 115–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bokhari, F. A., Gai, Y., & Gottret, P. (2007). Government health expenditures and health outcomes. Health economics, 16(3), 257–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bond, S., Hoeffler, A., & Temple, J. (2001). GMM estimation of empirical growth models. CEPR discussion paper no. 3048.

  • Bordé, A., Fromm, C., Kapadia, F., Molla, D. S., Sherwood, E., Sørensen, J. B., & Mahdi, A. R. (2009). ICT in health for development. New York: NY, UNDESA-GAID.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brindova, D., Veselska, Z. D., Klein, D., Hamrik, Z., Sigmundova, D., van Dijk, J. P., Reijneveld, S. A., & Geckova, A. M. (2015). Is the association between screen-based behaviour and health complaints among adolescents moderated by physical activity? International journal of public health, 60(2), 139–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broersma, L., & Van Ark, B. (2007). ICT, business services and labour productivity growth. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 16(6), 433–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bujancă, G. V., & Ulman, S. R. (2015). The impact of the economic freedom on national competitiveness in the main economic power centres in the World. Procedia Economics and Finance, 20, 94–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cette, G., Mairesse, J., & Kocoglu, Y. (2002). Croissance économique et diffusion des TIC: le cas de la France sur longue période (1980-2000). Revue française d'économie, 16(3), 155–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clasen, T., Schmidt, W. P., Rabie, T., Roberts, I., & Cairncross, S. (2007). Interventions to improve water quality for preventing diarrhoea: systematic review and meta-analysis. Bmj, 334(7597), 782.

    Google Scholar 

  • CABRI. (2016). Améliorer l’efficience technique des dépenses de santé en Afrique (27p).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dabinett, G. (2002). Reflections on regional development policies in the information society. Planning Theory & Practice, 3(2), 232–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS quarterly, 319-340.

  • De Choudhury, M., Morris, M. R., & White, R. W. (2014). Seeking and sharing health information online: comparing search engines and social media. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1365-1376).

  • Deshpande, S., Basil, M. D., & Basil, D. Z. (2009). Factors influencing healthy eating habits among college students: an application of the health belief model. Health Marketing Quarterly, 26(2), 145–164.

  • Dhrifi, A. (2018). Health-care expenditures, economic growth and infant mortality: evidence from developed and developing countries. CEPAL Review, 69-91.

  • Dumitrescu, E. I., & Hurlin, C. (2012). Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic modelling, 29(4), 1450–1460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumont, A. (2015). La gratuité de la césarienne permet d'accélérer la réduction de la mortalité maternelle et néonatale en Afrique. In : Des idées reçues en santé mondiale [en ligne]. Montréal : Presses de l’Université de Montréal : <http://books.openedition.org/pum/3661>.

  • Dutta, U. P., Gupta, H., & Sengupta, P. P. (2019). ICT and health outcome nexus in 30 selected Asian countries: fresh evidence from panel data analysis. Technology in Society, 59, 101184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dye, C. (2008). Health and urban living. Science, 319(5864), 766–769.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elert N, Halvarsson D (2012) Economic freedom and institutional convergence. Ratio Working Paper No. 196, 30 p

  • Fayissa, B., & Gutema, P. (2005). The determinants of health status in sub-saharan africa (ssa). The American Economist, 49(2), 60–66.

  • Fedha, T. (2014). Impact of mobile telephone on maternal health service care: a case of Njoro division. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2014.

  • Fewtrell, L., Kaufmann, R. B., Kay, D., Enanoria, W., Haller, L., & Colford Jr., J. M. (2005). Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrhoea in less developed countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet infectious diseases, 5(1), 42–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filmer, D., & Pritchett, L. (1999). The impact of public spending on health: does money matter? Social science & medicine, 49(10), 1309–1323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filmer, D., Hammer, J., & Pritchett, L. (1998). Health policy in poor countries: weak links in the chain. Policy Research Working Paper, 1874.

  • García-Muñiz, A. S., & Vicente, M. R. (2014). ICT technologies in Europe: a study of technological diffusion and economic growth under network theory. Telecommunications Policy, 38(4), 360–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gann, D. M., Wang, Y., & Hawkins, R. (1998). Do regulations encourage innovation?-the case of energy efficiency in housing. Building Research & Information, 26(5), 280–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao, Y., Zang, L., Roth, A., & Wang, P. (2017). Does democracy cause innovation? An empirical test of the popper hypothesis. Research Policy, 46(7), 1272–1283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, M. C., Fleisher, L., Slamon, R. E., Bass, S., Kandadai, V., & Beck, J. R. (2011). Exploring the potential of Web 2.0 to address health disparities. Journal of health communication, 16(sup1), 77-89.

  • Granger, C. W. (1969). Investigating causal relations by econometric models and cross-spectral methods. Econometrica: journal of the Econometric Society, 37, 424–438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, S., Melnyk, A., & Powers, D. (2002). Is economic freedom necessary for technology diffusion? Applied Economics Letters, 9(14), 907–910.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, M. (1972). On the concept of health capital and the demand for health. Journal of Political Economy, 80(2), 223–255.

  • GSMA. (2019). The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa, 2019, 36p.

  • Gwartney, J. D., Lawson, R., & Block, W. (1996). Economic freedom of the world, 1975-1995. The Fraser Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gwartney, J., & Lawson, R. (2004). Ten consequences of economic freedom. NCPA Policy Report No, 268.

  • Gwartney, J., Lawson, R. & Hall, J. (2017). Economic freedom of the world: 2017 annual report. Fraser institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haddon, L. (2004). Information and communication technologies in everyday life: a concise introduction and research guide. Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, L. P. (1982). Large sample properties of generalized method of moments estimators. Econometrica, 50, 1029–1054.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haftu, G. G. (2019). Information communications technology and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: a panel data approach. Telecommunications Policy, 43(1), 88–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. C., Humphreys, B. R., & Ruseski, J. E. (2018). Economic freedom, race, and health disparities: evidence from US states. Public Finance Review, 46(2), 276–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haller, L., Hutton, G., & Bartram, J. (2007). Estimating the costs and health benefits of water and sanitation improvements at global level. Journal of Water and Health, 5(4), 467–480.

  • Hardey, M. (2010). E-health': the internet and the transformation of patients into consumers and producers of health knowledge. Journal Information, Communication & Society, 4(3), 388–405.

  • Hayakawa, K. (2007). Small sample bias properties of the system GMM estimator in dynamic panel data models. Economics Letters, 95(1), 32–38.

  • Heller, P. S. (2006). The prospects of creating “Fiscal Space” for the health sector. Health Policy Plan, 21, 75–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzer, D. (2017). The long-run relationship between trade and population health: evidence from five decades. The World Economy, 40(2), 462–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudak, K. M. (2014). Differential health outcomes and trade: does openness to trade affect childhood underweight and overweight. Mimeo: Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irawan, Y. S., & Koesoema, A. P. (2015). The role of ICT, healthcare investment and eHealth policy in achieving millennium development goals: a cross-country comparison. In 2015 9th International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technology (ISMICT) (pp. 112-116), IEEE.

  • Jiang, S., & Street, R. L. (2017). Pathway linking Internet health information seeking to better health: A moderated mediation study. Health Communication, 32(8), 1024–1031.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaboré, S., Méda, C. Z., Sombié, I., Savadogo, L. B., Karama, R., Bakouan, K., et al. (2017). Lutte contre la mortalité maternelle en milieu rural: décentralisation de l’offre des soins obstétricaux d’urgence au Burkina Faso. The Pan African Medical Journal, 27.

  • Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). Uses and gratifications research. The public opinion quarterly, 37(4), 509–523.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelles-Viitanen, A. (2003). The role of ICT in poverty reduction. The Finnish Economy and Society, 82–94.

  • Kim, J., & Park, H. A. (2012). Development of a health information technology acceptance model using consumers’ health behavior intention. Journal of medical Internet research, 14(5), e133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kliner, M., Knight, A., Mamvura, C., Wright, J., & Walley, J. (2013). Using no-cost mobile phone reminders to improve attendance for HIV test results: a pilot study in rural Swaziland. Infectious Diseases of poverty, 2(1), 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch-Weser, S., Bradshaw, Y. S., Gualtieri, L., & Gallagher, S. S. (2010). The Internet as a health information source: findings from the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey and implications for health communication. Journal of health communication, 15(sup3), 279–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kpolovie, P. J., & Obilor, I. E. (2013). Adequacy-inadequacy: education funding in Nigeria. Universal Journal of Education and General Studies, 2(8), 239–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kpolovie, P. J., Oshodi, P. O., & Iwuchukwu, H. (2016). Continental inequities in life expectancy. European Journal of Biology and Medical Science Research, 4(6), 30–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuckertz, A., Berger, E. S., & Mpeqa, A. (2016). The more the merrier? Economic freedom and entrepreneurial activity. Journal of Business Research, 69(4), 1288–1293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kudamatsu, M. (2012). Has democratization reduced infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa? Journal of the European Economic Association, 10(6), 1294–1317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, R. A., Murphy, R. H., & Williamson, C. R. (2016). The relationship between income, economic freedom, and BMI. Public health, 134, 18–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S. T., Gholami, R., & Tong, T. Y. (2005). Time series analysis in the assessment of ICT impact at the aggregate level–lessons and implications for the new economy. Information & Management, 42(7), 1009–1022.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. W., & Brahmasrene, T. (2014). ICT, CO2 emissions and economic growth: evidence from a panel of ASEAN. Global Economic Review, 43(2), 93–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S. H., Levendis, J., & Gutierrez, L. (2012). Telecommunications and economic growth: an empirical analysis of sub-Saharan Africa. Applied Economics, 44(4), 461–469.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, D. I., & Rothman, D. (2006). Does trade affect child health? Journal of health Economics, 25(3), 538–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ling, R. (2004). The mobile connection: The cell phone’s impact on society. 244p. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-55860-936-5.X5000-4.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lorcu, F., & Erduran, G. Y. (2015). The impact of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) on Health Indicators. Social Sciences Research Journal, 4(2), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Majeed, M. T., & Khan, F. N. (2019). Do information and communication technologies (ICTs) contribute to health outcomes? An empirical analysis. Quality & quantity, 53(1), 183–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makuta, I., & O’Hare, B. (2015). Quality of governance, public spending on health and health status in Sub Saharan Africa: a panel data regression analysis. BMC Public Health, 15(932). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2287-z

  • Mehrhoff, J. (2009). A solution to the problem of too many instruments in dynamic panel data GMM. Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies No 31/2009.

  • Miller, T., Kim, A. B., & Roberts, J. M. (2020). 2020 Index of economic freedom. Washington: The Heritage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mimbi, L., & Bankole, F. O. (2015). ICT and health system performance in Africa: a multi-method approach. In In 26th Australasian Conference on Information Systems. Adelaide: Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mithas, S., Khuntia, J., & Agarwal, R. (2009). Information technology and life expectancy: a country-level analysis. ICIS 2009 Proceedings, 146.

  • Murray, I., & Press, D. (2017). Economic freedom is key to African development. OnPOINT, 227.

  • Musgrove, P. (1996). Public and private roles in health and financing. World Bank discussion papers ; no. WDP 339. Washington, D.C. : The World Bank.

  • Musoke, M. G. (2002). Simple ICTs reduce maternal mortality in rural Uganda: a telemedicine case study. Bulletin of Medicus Mundi Switzerland, 85.

  • Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Kim, S. J., McHugo, G. J., Unützer, J., Bartels, S. J., & Marsch, L. A. (2017). Health behavior models for informing digital technology interventions for individuals with mental illness. Psychiatric rehabilitation journal, 40(3), 325–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noordam, A. C., Kuepper, B. M., Stekelenburg, J., & Milen, A. (2011). Improvement of maternal health services through the use of mobile phones. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 16(5), 622–626.

  • Novignon, J., Atakorah, Y. B., & Djossou, G. N. (2018). How Does the health sector benefit from trade openness? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. African Development Review, 30(2), 135–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nutbeam, D. (1996). Health outcomes and health promotion-defining success in health promotion. Health Promotion Journal of Australia: Official Journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals, 6(2), 58.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2017). OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2017: The digital transformation. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264268821-en.

  • Olper, A., Curzi, D., Bedin, E., & Swinnen, J. (2014). Food security, health and trade liberalization. Department of Economics Management and Quantitative Methods: University of Milan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen, A. L., & Wu, S. (2007). Is trade good for your health? Review of International Economics, 15(4), 660–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panda, P. (2020). Does trade reduce infant mortality? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 128, 104851.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papaioannou, S. K., & Dimelis, S. P. (2017). Does upstream regulation matter when measuring the efficiency impact of information technology? Evidence across EU and US industries. Information Economics and Policy, 41, 67–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pénard, T., Poussing, N., Zomo Yebe, G., & Ella, N. (2012). Comparing the determinants of internet and cell phone use in Africa: evidence from Gabon. Communications & Strategies(86), 65-83.

  • Perez-Moreno, S., Blanco-Arana, M. C., & Barcena-Martın, E. (2016). Economic cycles and child mortality: a cross-national study of the least developed countries. Economics and Human Biology, 14-23.

  • Pradhan, R. P., Arvin, M. B., Norman, N. R., & Bele, S. K. (2014). Economic growth and the development of telecommunications infrastructure in the G-20 countries: a panel-VAR approach. Telecommunications Policy, 38(7), 634–649.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pritchett, L., & Summers, L. H. (1996). Wealthier is healthier. The Journal of Human Resources, 31(4), 841–868.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raghupathi, V., & Raghupathi, W. (2013). Exploring the relationship between ICTs and public health at country level: a health analytics approach. Int. J. Health. Inf. Syst. Inf, 8(3), 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rashid, A. T., & Elder, L. (2009). Mobile phones and development: an analysis of IDRC-supported projects. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 36(1), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Razmi, M. J. (2012). Reviewing the effect of trade openness on human development. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 4(6), 970–978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, J. M., & Olson, R. (2013). How economic freedom promotes better health care, education, and environmental quality. DC: Heritage Foundation Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roodman, D. (2009). How to do xtabond2: an introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata. The stata journal, 9(1), 86–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruhm, C. J. (2000). Are recessions good for your health? The Quarterly journal of economics, 115(2), 617–650.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1998). Mortality as an Indicator of economic success and failure. The Economic Journal, 108(446), 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom (366p). Oxford University Press.

  • Shekar, M., & Otto, K. (2014). ICTs for health in Africa. In Washington, DC (28p). World Bank: Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirazi, F., Gholami, R., & Higon, D. A. (2009). The impact of information and communication technology (ICT), education and regulation on economic freedom in Islamic Middle Eastern countries. Information & Management, 46(8), 426–433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stroup, M. D. (2007). Economic freedom, democracy, and the quality of life. World Development, 35(1), 52–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavares, A. I. (2018). eHealth, ICT and its relationship with self-reported health outcomes in the EU countries. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 112, 104–113.

  • Torsheim, T., Eriksson, L., Schnohr, C. W., Hansen, F., Bjarnason, T., & Välimaa, R. (2010). Screen-based activities and physical complaints among adolescents from the Nordic countries. BMC public health, 10(1), 324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandewater, E. A., Shim, M. S., & Caplovitz, A. G. (2004). Linking obesity and activity level with children’s television and video game use. Journal of adolescence, 27(1), 71–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weaver Lariscy, R., Tinkham, S. F., & Sweetser, K. D. (2011). Kids these days: examining differences in political uses and gratifications, Internet political participation, political information efficacy, and cynicism on the basis of age. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(6), 749–764.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welander, A., Lyttkens, C. H., & Nilsson, T. (2015). Globalization, democracy, and child health in developping countries. Social Sciences & Medecine, 136, 52–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO. (1985). Constitution de l’OMS. Constitution de l'OMS. Genève : Organisation mondiale de la Santé. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/36852.

  • WHO. (2004). The World health report: 2004: changing history. World Health Organization.

  • WHO. (2006). Building foundations for eHealth: progress of Member States: report of the WHO Global Observatory for eHealth. World Health Organization.

  • WHO. (2010). The World Health Report: Health Systems Financing. The path to universal coverage., 106p.

  • WHO. (2016). Global report on urban health: equitable healthier cities for sustainable development.

  • WHO. (2019). World health statistics 2019: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals.

  • Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 16(4), 362–369.

  • Wigley, S., & Akkoyunlu-Wigley, A. (2017). The impact of democracy and media freedom on under-5 mortality, 1961-2011. Social Science & Medecine, 190, 237–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, E. V., & Lankton, N. K. (2004). Modeling patients’ acceptance of provider-delivered e-health. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 11(4), 241–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windmeijer, F. (2005). A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators. Journal of econometrics, 126(1), 25–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wold, S., Esbensen, K., & Geladi, P. (1987). Principal component analysis. Chemometrics and intelligent laboratory systems, 2(1-3), 37–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2008). The business of health in Africa: partnering with the private sector to improve people’s lives (English). In International Finance Corporation (154p). Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2016). World development report 2016: digital dividends. World Bank Publications.

  • Wu, S. J., & Raghupathi, W. (2012). A panel analysis of the strategic association between information and communication technology and public health delivery. Journal of medical Internet research, 14(5), e147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yildrim, A., & Gökalp, M. F. (2016). Institutions and economic performance: a review on the developing countries. Procedia Econ Finance, 38(347), 359.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, H., & Zhu, S. X. (2017). Corporate innovation and economic freedom: cross-country comparisons. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 63, 50–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuppo, M. C. (2012). Defining ICT in a boundaryless world: the development of a working hierarchy. International journal of managing information technology, 4(3), 13–22.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

    Jeffrey Kouton, Rafiou R. Bétila & Moïse Lawin

Authors
  1. Jeffrey Kouton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rafiou R. Bétila
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Moïse Lawin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffrey Kouton.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Fig. 4
figure 4

2020 Index of Economic Freedom. Source: Heritage Foundation 2020

Full size image
Fig. 5
figure 5

Trend in the Index of Economic Freedom from 2000 to 2020. Source: authors’ representation based on Heritage Foundation data, 2020

Full size image

Appendix 2

Fig. 6
figure 6

ICT Development Index from 2000 to 2016. Source: authors’ calculations

Full size image

Appendix 3

Fig. 7
figure 7

Evolution of the mobile subscriptions from 2000 to 2016. Source: authors’ representation based on WDI data

Full size image
Fig. 8
figure 8

Evolution of the number of individuals with access to Internet from 2000 to 2016. Source: authors’ representation based on WDI data

Full size image

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kouton, J., Bétila, R.R. & Lawin, M. The Impact of ICT Development on Health Outcomes in Africa: Does Economic Freedom Matter?. J Knowl Econ 12, 1830–1869 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-020-00689-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-020-00689-3

Keywords

JEL

Search

Navigation