Abstract

Civil wars have devastating impacts on the health of the civilian population, the cities in which they reside, and the resources on which they rely. However, only limited systematic research on the various mechanisms through which civil war impacts health, has been conducted. This project examines the impact of infrastructure destruction during civil war on long-term population health. Building off of previous research, I hypothesize that an increase in the level of infrastructure destruction leads to worsening long-term population health. I investigate these long-term impacts by conducting a cross-sectional quantitative analysis from 1990 to 2016, across 164 countries worldwide. Testing my hypothesis, I find that 1) Civil war is a statistically significant predictor of infrastructure destruction; 2) Infrastructure destruction is a greater predictor of long-term population health than civil war alone; and 3) While the greatest impacts on population health are felt in the immediate aftermath of the war, there are still noticeable negative impacts on health 10 years after the conflict ends.

Advisor

Krause, Brooke

Second Advisor

Leiby, Michele

Department

Interdepartmental

Disciplines

Infrastructure | Models and Methods | Other Political Science | Other Public Health | Political Science | Public Health

Keywords

global health, public health, international health, infrastructure, infrastructure destruction, civil war

Publication Date

2019

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

Available for download on Wednesday, January 01, 2025

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© Copyright 2019 Christina M. Gorey