Child Healthcare Outcomes in Africa: Unlocking the Potentials of Islamic finance

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the effects of Islamic finance on child health care in 27 African countries over the period 1975 to 2021 using data from the World Bank and World Population Review. Results of the 2SLS estimation show that Islamic finance improves child health care in Africa. Specifically: (i) Islamic finance negatively and significantly affects child overweight, (ii)Islamic finance negatively and significantly affects child mortality, (iii) Islamic finance negatively affects anaemia prevalencein children, (iv) Islamic finance negatively and significantly affects the probability of dying among children. Furthermore, ourrobustness analysis reveal that these effects are more pronounced in middle income than low income countries, and non-Muslimdominated than Muslim dominated countries. The findings of this study are consistent with the empirical literature and support theview that African countries can turn to Islamic finance for the promotion of child health care and the attainment of the 2030 UnitedNations SDGs. The study recommends the need for policymakers to put in place the necessary mechanisms for the promotion ofIslamic finance such as the enacting of laws that ensures the creation of full-fledged Islamic banks, encouraging research in Islamic finance and Islamic economics.