Terrorism and child mortality

Abstract

How does terrorism affect child mortality? We use geo‐coded data on terrorism and spatially disaggregated data on child mortality to study the relationship between both variables for 52 African countries between 2000 and 2017 at the 0.5 × 0.5° grid level. Our estimates suggest that moderate increases in terrorism are linked to several thousand additional annual deaths of children under the age of five. A panel event‐study points to economic effects that are larger and compound over time. Interrogating our data, we show that the direct impact of terrorism tends to be very small. Instead, we theorize that terrorism causes child mortality primarily by triggering adverse behavioral responses by parents, medical workers, and policymakers. We provide tentative evidence in support of this argument.

Armed Violent Conflict and Healthcare-Seeking Behavior for Maternal and Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

“…Only six studies discuss subjective factors at all [19,45,50,53,55,59], and none explicitly deals with perceptions of fear and psychological trauma. This is despite the fact that aspects such as increased fear of future violence and lost trust in state institutions have been hypothesized to drive many of the detrimental changes in healthcare-seeking behavior [25]. Explicitly exploring these channels remains an important area for future research.…”

“…Another possible factor is the type of violence vulnerable populations are exposed to. Prior research has established that terrorism has strong negative effects on child health [25,43], and it is noteworthy that some of the strongest reductions in healthcare-seeking behavior were in areas affected by attacks by Boko Haram, a known terrorist organization that explicitly and repeatedly has targeted civilians. It is possible that other forms of violence, such as insurgencies fought mainly between rebels and government forces, have less adverse effects [43].…”

“…The trauma resulting from violence, even if not visibly apparent, is associated with both persistent mental health issues and associated physical ailments that often afflict victims throughout their lives [11]. Moreover, exposure to violence may lead to fear, mistrust, and psychological trauma, creating reluctance among individuals to seek out health-services [25].…”