Copula Geo-Additive Modeling of Anaemia and Malnutrition among Children under Five Years in Angola, Senegal, and Malawi

Chris Khulu; Shaun Ramroop; Faustin Habyarimana

Copula Geo-Additive Modeling of Anaemia and Malnutrition among Children under Five Years in Angola, Senegal, and Malawi

Chris Khulu; Shaun Ramroop; Faustin Habyarimana

Notwithstanding the interventions implemented to address child mortality, anaemia and malnutrition remain a concern for the future of developing countries. Anaemia and malnutrition contribute a high proportion of the causes of childhood morbidity in Africa. The objective of this study is to jointly model anaemia and malnutrition using a copula geo-additive model. This study is a secondary data analysis where a Demographic and Health Survey of 2016 data from Angola, Malawi, and Senegal was used. The descriptive analysis was conducted in SPSS and the copula geo-additive model analysis was performed in R 3.63. The results showed that female children are notably associated with anaemia and a malnourished status (female estimate = 0.144, p-value = 0.027 for anaemia: female estimate = &minus:0.105, p-value = 000 for malnutrition). The probability of each result decreased with an improvement in the mother&rsquo:s level of schooling. This indicates an urgent requirement for interventions to be implemented by policymakers in order to manage children&rsquo:s mortality rates. These interventions can include the introduction of educational programs for older adults, children&rsquo:s dietary programs, and income generation initiatives (starting a small business, etc.). It is hoped that this paper can foster the utilization of copula methodology in this field of science with the use of cross-sectional data.

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