Page 67 - Apmor 2018

environment oil

How Oil Spills Increase Infant

Deaths in Niger Delta By Chukwuma Muanya

Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor provides information
Oil spills in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
on date and location of oil spills registered by
the National Oil Spill Detection and Response
Agency. Second, the Nigeria Demographic
and Health Survey (DHS) 2013 provides the
complete birth histories and information on
the survival of children for 23,364 Nigerian
mothers, along with geo-codes of their place
of residence. It also provides height and weight
measurements for children under five years of
age.
“Our study analyses mortality within different
phases over the first year of life. We thereby
focus on children born to mothers whose
reported place of residence is within 10 km
from an oil spill, which has occurred between
2005 and 2014. For identification of causal
effects, the study compares siblings conceived
before and after nearby oil spills.”
The study found that oil spills, which occurred
within 10 km prior to a child’s conception,
strongly increase the risk of mortality during
the first month of life. “Specifically, nearby
oil spills increase the neonatal mortality rate
New research from the University of St.
Gallen, Switzerland, has demonstrated Neonatal relates to the newborn by 38 deaths per 1,000 live births, which
Nfor the first time how oil spills are and especially the human infant corresponds to an increase by 100 per cent
increasing mortality rates among newborns in during the first month after birth. on the sample mean. The effect of oil spills on
the Niger Delta of the country. The researchers said shockingly, infant mortality is also relatively large, but not
statistically significant. The effect on neonatal
The new study by Prof. Roland Hodler and this corresponds to an increase by mortality is higher for oil spills that occurred in
Research Assistant, Anna Breuderle, from the 100 per cent on the sample mean closer proximity, and it is highly persistent over
School of Economics and Political Science at and these oil spills are the cause of time: nearby oil spills which occurred up to five
the University of St. Gallen, found that of the an alarming human tragedy and the years in the past still affect the survival chances
16,000 infants killed within the first month of of children born today,” the researchers noted.
their life in 2012, 70 per cent - that is around research calls for more attention to
11,000 infants - would have survived their first the issue from both the research Also, they said that the effect of oil spills on
year in the absence of oil spills. community and the international neonatal mortality is independent of the
family’s socio-economic status or the location.
The study titled “The Effect of Oil Spills on public.
Infant Mortality: Evidence from Nigeria” was The study also found some evidence that oil
published September 14, 2017, in Center for Earlier studies have associated oil spills in spills impair the health of surviving children. “In
Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo) Nigeria to rise in cancer cases and low sperm particular, oil spills prior to conception increase
Working Paper Series No. 6653 and available at count especially among local communities in the incidence of low weight-for-height, notably
SSRN: https://ssrn.com. the oil-rich Niger Delta region. in the first year of life.”
According to the study, the National Oil Spill The researchers noted: “In a recent study, The researchers concluded: “A calculation
Detection and Response Agency recorded we provide first-time evidence on the effects based on these findings suggests that oil spills,
more than 6,600 oil spills from 2005 to 2015. of onshore oil spills on neonatal and infant prior to conception, killed around 16,000
Nearby oil spills increase neonatal mortality mortality as well as child health. The study infants within the first month of their life in
rate by 38 per cent per 1,000 live births. combines two geo-coded data sets: First, the 2012. Of these, 70 per cent (around 11,000
infants) would have survived their first year in

AFRICAN POWER Mining & Oil Review Vol 21, Issue 20, 2017 | 67