Health Care Utilization, Socioeconomic Factors, and Child Health in India

CGD is please to host Alok Bhargava to discuss his work on child health and healthcare utilization patterns in India. Demographic surveys have been used to provide meaningful information on the health status for women and children world-wide. Dr. Bhargava’s work evaluates demographic survey information to evaluate the effects of public and private health care service utilization, food consumption patterns and maternal health status on child health indicators such as child weight, height, and hemoglobin concentration. Dr. Bhargava’s analysis finds that 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 hemoglobin concentration indicated beneficial effects of food consumption patterns and treatment against intestinal parasites. The results provide several insights for improving child health in India. Recommendations include the scale up of immunization coverage and chemotherapy treatments for removing intestinal parasites for Indian children, and investments in public health care to increase the uptake of health care services in rural areas. 

The full paper can be accessed here.