Climate Change and Acute Respiratory Infections in Children Aged 0 to 5 Years in the Poro Region of Cote Divoire

This article aims to examine the effect of climate change on the prevalence of acute respiratory infections (ARI) among children aged 0 to 5 years in the Poro region, located in northern Cote dIvoire. Specifically, it seeks to contribute to the analysis of the influence of temperature and rainfall variations on child health. The endogenous variable is the prevalence of acute respiratory infection. The exogenous variables are official development assistance, public spending on education, mortality rate, temperature, and precipitation. The climate data used come from the NASA database, while health data are drawn from the Annual Health Situation Reports inCote dIvoire from 2007 to 2020. A MIDAS-PDL/Almon model is applied using the nonlinear least squares method for econometric estimation. The results show that the prevalence of ARI among children aged 0 to 5 years in the Poro region is significantly linked to temperature and precipitation variations. Moreover, development aid and increased public spending on education help mitigate the effects of climate on the health of populations in Poro.