Quantifying the attributable burden of economic inequality on under-five mortality across ten African countries: a WHO HEAT-based analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Despite global declines in under-five mortality, African countries continue to experience high rates, with socioeconomic disparities undermining progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 3.2. While wealth gradients in child survival are well documented, the proportion of deaths directly attributable to inequality remains poorly quantified across national contexts.

Methods

We conducted a cross-national secondary analysis using the WHO Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) v.6.0. Data from ten African countries for the 2022 reference year were included, comprising a total study population of over 6.5 million live births. Under-five mortality rates were obtained from United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) datasets, disaggreg

SUBMITTER: Bai-Sesay AU 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12821987 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature