Health Risk Factors And Health Care Systems In Latin America And The Caribbean: A Cross-Sectional Multiple Regression And ANOVA Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of health risk factors and health care systems on child mortality and life expectancy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Cross-sectional multiple regression and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are used to study the association between health risk factors such as incidence of tuberculosis and diabetes, and health care systems such as number of hospital beds per capita, and number of physicians per capita on life expectancy and child mortality. Data are obtained from the World Bank. For the purpose of this study, the LAC region is defined as the area from Mexico to the southern end of South America, as well as islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The conclusions of the study are that higher life expectancy is associated with higher per capita incomes and health expenditures. On the other hand, higher child mortality is associated with greater prevalence of communicable diseases and poor maternal pre-natal conditions. The macro policy implication is to focus on economic development and health care expenditure. The micro policy implication is to allocate more resources for maternal care, preventive care and eradication of communicable diseases.