Received: 3 April 2023 | Revised: 24 May 2023 | Accepted: 29 May 2023 | Published online: 2 June 2023 RESEARCH ARTICLE Achieving Infant Mortality SDG 3 Target in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: Does Carbon Emission Matter? Stanley Emife Nwani 1, * and Julius Chibuzor Ujah 1 1 School of Management & Social Sciences, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria Abstract: This study is necessitated by the high rate of infant mortality in South Asia (SA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the need to enhance the chances of these regions achieving SGD 3. The endemic nature of infant mortality in these regions constitutes a threat to attaining the 2030 sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 target. This study examined whether carbon emission matters and how other socioeconomic factors militate against the attainment of the infant mortality target in SA and SSA for the period 1981–2019. The study analyzed annual panel series using the robust least squares estimator. The result revealed that carbon emission per capita is the most critical impediment to attaining the SDG 3 target (25 infant mortality rate per 1000 in 2030) in SA and SSA. Fortunately, an increment in per capita income would be the strategic action to attaining the infant mortality target in these regions, and it is imperative to promote maternal education through improvement in female school enrollment rates. While the South Asian economies could afford to rely on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in addition to the aforementioned strategies, the SSA countries should not strongly depend on FDI to address the menace of infant mortality, rather improved social spending that is devoid of corruption and other systemic encumbrances would be more productive in arresting infant mortality in this region. Also, policymakers in Sub-Saharan African economies are encouraged to rely less on FDI and are strongly advised to improve government social spending and to implement pollution abatement policies and environmental regulations in line with international treaties and best practices. Keywords: infant mortality, carbon emission, foreign direct investment, income per capita, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa The endemic nature of infant mortality in developing regions without comparative attention in the literature constitutes a threat to attaining the 2030 sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 target. Therefore, this public health concern in developing economies requires a multi-disciplinary approach from a social, economic, and environmental perspective. 1. Introduction The millennium development goals initiative has evolved into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a global call for action to address the challenges related to health, environment, social, and economic issues. The SDGs aim to foster a partnership to achieve optimal health and education, promote sustainable economic growth, mitigate climate change, and conserve natural resources, such as oceans and forests. In addition, they are set to target sound health and well-being for people of all ages across all member states and regions by the year 2030. In specific terms, the World Health Organization targets zero incident of preventable demise of less than 5-year-old children and newborns. It further aimed at reducing neonatal and under-5 death rates to a maximum of 12/1000 and 25/1000 live births, respectively, by 2030. Notably, the progress made toward achieving this goal has been positive, as indicated by a consistent decrease in global infant mortality rates (IMRs) over time. In particular, data from 1950 to 2021 show that infant mortality reduced from 146.687 deaths per 1000 live births to 27.334 deaths per 1000 live births, highlighting significant strides in promoting and ensuring the health and well-being of infants worldwide. Although there has been an overall decrease in IMRs globally, a closer examination at the regional level highlights significant disparities. Specifically, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia (SA) have been experiencing much higher IMRs than other regions such as the European Union, North America, OECD Members, East Asia and Pacific, Europe, and Central Asia, Latin America Caribbean, Middle East, and North Africa, and Arab World, as indicated by statistical evidence presented in Figure 1 (World Bank, 2021). The World Bank (2021) reports that the SSA region has been recording a slow decline in infant deaths, with the IMR dropping from 57.2 per 1000 live births in 2015 to 51.7 per 1000 live births in 2019. This raises questions about the factors responsible for the poor performance of this region in meeting infant mortality targets, given that the global average was 31.5 per 1000 live births in 2015 and 28.2 per 1000 live births in 2019. IMRs are not solely attributable to poverty, as indicated by studies (Alimi, 2018; Mohamoud et al., 2019) and World *Corresponding author: Dr. Stanley Emife Nwani, School of Management & Social Sciences, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. Email: snwani@pau.edu.ng Green and Low-Carbon Economy 2023, Vol. 00(00) 1–10 DOI: 10.47852/bonviewGLCE3202929 © The Author(s) 2023. Published by BON VIEW PUBLISHING PTE. LTD. This is an open access article under the CC BY License (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). 01