Chart of day: Rapidly falling under-5 mortality across Africa

From Global Development blog via Craig Nordin:

Under-5 mortality (per 1,000 live births) in selected
sub-Saharan African countries surveyed since 2005

Go to the blog post for analysis. My point:  interesting how opening up to globalization coincides with this.  Not arguing initial causality, which is multivariate.  Point is:  opening up to globalization certainly doesn't "impoverish" along these crucial lines.

This joyous development begets a demographic dividend, which sets a clock a'ticking.  How Africa handles this historic opportunity is crucial of course, but clearly this is the best problem yet for the continent.

And what is progress other than moving off worse problems to better ones?

This story is nothing new.  We saw doubling of human life expectancy across 20th century (started in low 30s in 1900 and reached 65 by 2000) and that was almost all about reducing under-5 mortality - and that was overwhelmingly due to vaccines, with clean(er) water a crucial second.

Comments

[Maduka]

What you may not know is that mortality rates fell rapidly in the two decades after independence. There was also better access to healthcare and good healthcare outcomes.

What almost killed Africa was the economic quackery of the World Bank/IMF in the eighties and nineties. African governments were told to cut spending on social welfare (health and education) and privatise state enterprises without first creating a robust regulatory environment. The results were dramatic - real urban incomes in Nigeria, plummeted 90 percent IN ONE DECADE. That wasn't economic transformation, it was an implosion.

What Africa is experiencing today may be less of globalisation, but the inevitable rebound from a prolonged depression - there are some economists that hold this view and they have data to back up their arguments. Now even if globalisation is driving improved healthcare outcomes, one could argue that the primary globalising agent is not the West but probably the Chinese and the Indians or even the opening of new markets and new opportunities within Africa.

There have been interesting reports showing the rapid growth of private healthcare and education providers in SS Africa. (some reports estimate that up to 50 percent of healthcare is provided by private providers in many African nations). These doctors tend to be locals responding to local demands, this may have a lot to do with a new breed of Africans who are hungry and motivated enough to create new business opportunities.

We should resist the temptation to attribute all economic growth to "globalisation". Western investment in Africa tends to be limited to high margin/high volume activities in the Oil and Gas sector that require highly educated manpower (usually not sourced locally). The Chinese provide low cost products, but their impact isn't as great as is suggested. So where is much of the growth coming from? It is coming from a new generation of Africans, seizing opportunities to trade with each other.

I will start work tomorrow with a Nigerian IT firm that has clients in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana. My high school friend is the Managing Director of a Nigerian bank in Zambia. I did consulting work for a Nigerian business man with interests in Cameroun, Congo-Brazzaville, Ghana and Tanzania.