Environment and health: modelling the relationship between air pollution and infant mortality in Ghana

The paper aims at contributing to the body of knowledge in the area of environment and health by empirically examining the stable long run relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and infant mortality, using Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) for the period 1961–2010 using time series data. The results indicate the series variables are unit roots in levels but attained stationarity in first difference. The cointegrationresults indicate that carbon dioxide emissions significantly influence infant mortality in the long run and short run. Policy maker should incorporate the findings into their strategies to control air pollution to avoid infant mortality resulting from carbon dioxide emissions. Income (proxied by real gross domestic product) significantly influences infant mortality negatively. Policy makers should ensure economic growth to reduce infant mortality. Public education on the control of air pollution should be intensive. Future studies should examine causality issues since the current study is descriptive in nature.