DYNAMIC HEALTH CARE DECISIONS AND CHILD HEALTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

Olufunke Alaba and Steven Koch

No 200834, Working Papers from University of Pretoria, Department of Economics

Abstract: A large number of child deaths in developing countries could be averted if ill children received care sooner rather than later. This paper analyses the healthcare treatment pathway that is followed for children under the age of six. The majority of these children receive treatment within 24 hours. However, we find that income affects the probability of any treatment, despite freely available public healthcare, while delayed treatment for severely ill children is more likely to occur in more expensive private facilities. Our results suggest that free public healthcare is not enough to mitigate health inequality amongst young children, and that delayed healthcare could lead to adverse household expenditure shocks.

JEL-codes: C35 D13 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2008-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-hea
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Journal Article: Dynamic Health Care Decisions and Child Health in South Africa (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pre:wpaper:200834

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