Health Infrastructure Development And Life Expectancy At Birth In Anglophone West African Countries

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between health infrastructure and Life expectancy in Anglophone West African countries, namely Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, using panel data from 2000-2025. The study employed the Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to investigate both the long-run and short-run dynamics among the variables. The long-run results revealed that immunization coverage, birth attended by skill health staff as well as specialist surgical workforce have positive and statistically significant effects on life expectancy, indicating that improvement in these aspects of health infrastructure contributes to better health outcomes in the region. Conversely, basic health services and health spending per capita exhibit negative and significant relationships with life expectancy, while hospital bed density shows a negative but significant effect. The short run estimate indicates weak and statistically significant relationship between most health infrastructure variables and life expectancy, suggesting that the impact of health infrastructure on life expectancy is more pronounced in the long-run than in the short run. Country-specific results revealed that heterogeneous effects across Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone reflecting differences in national health systems and institutional capacity. The study concludes that strengthening health infrastructure, particularly through increased immunization coverage, and expansion of the specialist health workforce is essential for improving health outcomes in Anglophone West Africa. The study recommended policy efforts should be focused on efficient allocation of health resources and sustainable investment in health infrastructure to enhance life expectancy and reduce under five mortality rate, basic health services, Hospital Beds.