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HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION, SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS AND CHILD HEALTH IN INDIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2011

ALOK BHARGAVA ,
ARAVINDA M. GUNTUPALLI  and
MICHAEL LOKSHIN
ALOK BHARGAVA
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
ARAVINDA M. GUNTUPALLI
Affiliation:
University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
MICHAEL LOKSHIN
Affiliation:
The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA
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Summary

This paper models the proximate determinants of height, weight and haemoglobin concentration of over 25,000 Indian children using data from the National Family Health Survey-3. The effects of public and private health care service utilization, food consumption patterns and maternal health status on child health were investigated in a multidisciplinary framework. Methodological issues such as potential endogeneity of explanatory variables and the appropriateness of combining height and weight as the body mass index were tackled. The results from models for children's heights and weight showed beneficial effects of child vaccinations against DPT, polio and measles, and negative effects of not utilizing government health facilities. The models for children's haemoglobin concentration indicated beneficial effects of food consumption patterns and treatment against intestinal parasites. The results provide several insights for improving child health in India.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 43 , Issue 6 , November 2011 , pp. 701 - 715
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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