Life Expectancy in Africa: Improving Public Health Policy

Life Expectancy in Africa: Improving Public Health Policy provides readers with a comprehensive analysis of life expectancy in Africa and proposes avenues for improving public health policy on the African continent. The book studies the period between 1960 and 2015. To a large extent, the author offers an understanding of the changes of life expectancy at birth across regions and time in Africa to inform public policy decisions. The author relied on primary source data over the 1960-2015 period from The World Bank, Barro and Lee, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Adu Frimpong adopted exploratory spatial data analysis, which included spatio-temporal and spatial regression procedures. Adu Frimpong argues that the spatial spillover of major armed conflicts (or wars) does not only affect a country’s life expectancy at birth, but it also affects the life expectancy at birth of other neighboring countries. Above all, this book contends that the African continent suffers substantial losses in overall life expectancy of its citizenry from cradle to the grave. The continent experiences major armed conflicts — often in the form of civil wars — unabated to the detriment of the citizens of all its nations.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Onyumbe Lukongo Preface Chapter 1: The Genesis, The Past and The Current Situation of Life Expectancy in Africa Chapter 2: Life Expectancy, Health, Geo-Patial Analytics and War/Conflict Theories Chapter 3: Methodology and Models Specification of Spatio-Temporal and Spatial Regression Analyses Chapter 4: Spatio- Temporal Analysis of Life Expectancy and Conflict-cum-War in Africa Chapter 5: Epilogue: Conclusion, Policy Recommendations and Implications Appendix I: Spatio-Temporal Analysis Data Output Appendix II: Some Selected Development Indicators and Data from World Bank, IMF, and Barrow & Lee, from 1960 to 2015

About the Author :
Augustine Adu Frimpong received his PhD in public policy from Southern University and A&M College.

Review :
Very impressively, The book, Life Expectancy In Africa: Improving Public Health Policy, offers its readers a comprehensive analysis of life expectancy on the African continent and, subsequently, it proposes avenues for impacting public policy generally in Africa. Most certainly, Life Expectancy In Africa: Improving Public Health Policy, is a publication that must be obtained for edification by researchers, including students, their teachers, as well as general readers, who wish to learn, in detail, about life expectancy on the African continent, coupled with how to improve on the over-all public health policy on the continent. This book is a must read for public health professionals, public policy makers and a great resource for students of public administration. In its five well-researched chapters — coupled with copious references as well as a very useful subject index, an expert’s foreword, and a preface — this book deals with several aspects of life expectancy in Africa and, indeed, ways to improve public health policy on the continent. It is a timely publication that will certainly stand the test of time and, in the end, benefit a wide spectrum of researchers, students and the general reader. I recommend the book without any reservation. Augustine Adu Frimpong presents a penetrating and far reaching analysis of the disruptive effects of war on health and the quality of life of Africans. His work would make a sobering read for Africa's political leaders and policy-makers alike.