AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEALTH AND GROWTH IN NIGERIA
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Abstract
In the post global corona virus pandemic era, existing studies have adequately examined the impact of health indices on economic growth, especially in Nigeria, where healthcare system is failing, health workers emigrating in droves and health cost surging. Thus, this study examined the causal relationship between health indices and economic growth in Nigeria between 1990 and 2019 using quarterly time series data. The study employed the ARDL short run, long run, and the error correction estimators and found that a significant relationship exists between health variables and economic growth in Nigeria. The study concluded that improvements in health outcomes would be growth-enhancing. But, the ability of health indices to sustainably yield growth benefits, hinges on the level of education and manpower retention in the health sector. Since improved health outcomes are growth-enhancing, we strongly recommend that health policies should be directed at improving life expectancy, reducing infant mortality, and minimizing crude death rate. This could be achieved by investing in the health sector and such investment should be regarded by the government and households as a veritable source of economic growth through access to quality health care services at affordable cost.
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