Infant, Neonatal and Maternal Mortality in ASEAN Countries: A Panel Data Analysis

Introduction: ASEAN means the “Association of South-east Asian Nations.” It is mainly composed of ten countries, namely, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Later, East Timor (Timor-Leste) and Papua New Guinea joined the Association as observer States. Background: In ASEAN countries, more than 50% of deaths of under-5 mortality occur during the neonatal period. It is known that the leading causes of child death are respiratory infections, diarrhea, malaria, and complications during pregnancy. Data: The data for this work were taken from the World Bank website. It is panel data consisting of mortality rates and the associated variables from the year 2000 to the year 2020. Though there are a large number of such explanatory variables, most of these are incomplete due to a large number of missing variables. Analysis: Both fixed effect and random effect models were run using the R package. During this stage, most of the explanatory variables had to be deleted due to multicollinearity. Ultimately, only four variables, namely, Population Growth, Undernourishment, Domestic General Government Health Expenditure, and Percentage of Open Defecation, were found suitable to predict Neonatal Mortality Rate, Infant Mortality Rate, and Maternal Mortality Ratio. Results: All four explanatory variables were found to have a positive effect on all three mortality rates. Domestic General Government Health Expenditure was supposed to have a mitigating effect on the mortality rates; however, the results just show the opposite relations. This is possibly because there were two-way effects hinting at simultaneity in which case both the Government expenditures and the mortality rates act as endogenous variables. Conclusion: Population growth and prevalence of undernourishment should be restrained, and basic hygienic facilities should be promoted.