Rethinking social change: Does the permanent and transitory effects of electricity and solid fuel use predict health outcome in Africa?

One of the greatest global challenges of this 21st century is electricity deprivation, which involves extending access to electricity to hundreds of millions of people, while simultaneously trying to improve the quality of life and maintain their good health. Electricity deprivation combined with poor health systems and social circumstances can be a problem as it tends to expose the population to greater health risks. While the opponents of energy use almost never deny that electricity use is necessary for health, instead, they failed to admit that a lack of readily available electricity could mark the difference between life and death. This is because reliable electricity supply is required for basic socioeconomic needs such as home cooking and storage, water supply, lighting and reduction of indoor air pollution that may arise from solid fuel usage. This study examines the permanent and transitory effects of electricity and solid fuel use on health in Africa. The empirical strategy combines the van praag transformation and advanced econometrics based on Mundlak methodology. By using the Mundlak statistical procedure, the study breaks down the permanent and transitory effects of energy use (electricity and solid fuel use) on health. The study also corrects for potential endogeneity problem using the Hausman -Taylor statistical procedure. It further strengthened the analysis by correcting for cross panel correlation using the Feasible GLS methodology. The findings revealed that having access to electricity reduces health risks associated with burning solid fuels in Africa.