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Predictive behaviour of maternal health inputs and child mortality in West Bengal - An analysis based on NFHS-3
Saswati Chaudhuri1, Biswajit Mandal2
1Department of Economics, St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata, India.
Insights
Maternal health inputs like prenatal care and hospital delivery are influenced by socioeconomic factors in West Bengal. Hospital delivery significantly reduces child mortality, highlighting its importance for public health.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Demography
- Health Economics
Background:
- Maternal and child well-being are crucial for future public health and human capital development.
- Antenatal and postnatal care are complementary, with the birth of a child bridging this period.
- Understanding socioeconomic determinants of maternal healthcare demand is vital for policy interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine socioeconomic factors influencing demand for maternal health inputs (prenatal care, place of delivery) in West Bengal using NFHS-3 data.
- To assess the impact of these factors and delivery location on child mortality.
- To identify policy-relevant areas for improving maternal and child health outcomes and human capital formation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) data for West Bengal, India.
- Employed a joint estimation technique to address unobserved heterogeneity in demand for maternal healthcare and its impact on child mortality.
- Analyzed socioeconomic predictors including place of residence, standard of living, women's education, age, religion, occupation, household decision-making power, and birth order.
Main Results:
- Place of residence, standard of living, and women's educational level positively correlate with demand for prenatal care and hospital delivery.
- Hospital delivery was found to be effective in reducing child mortality.
- Maternal age, religion, occupation, household decision-making participation, and child's birth order are significant predictors of child mortality.
Conclusions:
- Socioeconomic factors play a significant role in the utilization of maternal healthcare services and impact child survival.
- Promoting hospital delivery is a key strategy for reducing child mortality.
- Policy interventions should target specific socioeconomic determinants to enhance maternal and child health outcomes.
Abstract:
The well-being of both the mother and the child determines the health of the next generation. This in turn can predict future public health challenges that the health care system of an economy would be concerned with. Hence, we should be more concerned with antenatal and postnatal care, which are in fact complementary in nature. The birth of a child just coexists in between this transitionary gap. Our paper uses NFHS-3 data for an Indian state - West Bengal - to examine the related socioeconomic factors that may have pronounced effects on the demand for maternal health inputs like pre-natal care and choice of place of delivery. Concurrently we also check the effects on child mortality. We believe that this would help the policy makers to identify the areas to stress upon in order to pave the way for the formation of good quality human capital in the long run. Another distinguishing feature of this paper is the use of joint estimation technique that solves the unobserved heterogeneity problem which is commonly present in this kind of research. In most of the cases, the usage of this technique is not resorted. The place of residence, standard of living, and women's educational level are found to have an increasing effect on the demand for prenatal care and hospital delivery. However, a more relevant analysis should never ignore the dimension of child mortality. There we find hospital delivery to be effective to reduce child mortality. Mothers' age, religion, occupation, participation in household decision making process, and child's birth order are other important predictors of child mortality.
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