Empirical Evidence on the Impact of Infectious Diseases on Health-Outcome in Nigeria

Purpose: This research is an empirical investigation on the rate in which infectious diseases have impacted on health outcome in Nigeria. Over the years, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and others have been rampaging the health outcome of the people mostly those in Africa and in Nigeria to be precise. Many people have lost their precious life because of these infectious diseases and many are still in anticipation of losing their lives too. Efforts by the Nigeria government to curtail the prevalence of infectious diseases seems abortive. This paper is to find out the level in which infectious diseases have been affecting health outcome of the people in Nigeria and proffer a solution to the menace. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is an empirical research. The methodology used is the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model which helps to find out the rate of impacts and effects of infectious diseases on health outcome in Nigeria. Being an empirical study, secondary annual data (1985 – 2018) were used and their sources are reliable. Findings: The result from the findings shows that infectious diseases have negative impacts on health outcome in Nigeria over the years of study. However, HIV/AIDS was significant at 10% over those years, while Tuberculosis showed no significance impact on health outcome. Originality/Value: This study approached infectious diseases and health outcome in Nigeria. It will help to foster good economic policies to curb the prevalence of infectious diseases and boast health outcome in Nigeria knowing that most of the efforts the government of Nigeria abducted previously seem abortive. The conclusion part of this study is a good policy implementation ideas and strategic plans to eradicate the menace.