The effect of maternal education on gender bias in care-seeking for common childhood illnesses

Gautam Bhan, Nita Bhandari, Sunita Taneja, Sarmila Mazumder and Rajiv Bahl

Social Science & Medicine, 2005, vol. 60, issue 4, 715-724

Abstract: This paper assessed gender bias within hospitalisation rates to ascertain whether differential care-seeking practices significantly contribute to excess female mortality. It then examined the impact of socio-economic factors, particularly maternal education and economic status, on gender bias. The results find both the clear and significant impact of gender on hospitalisation rates, as well as the simultaneous inability of rising education and economic status to alleviate this bias. A secondary analysis was conducted within a uniquely large and ongoing randomised control trial that sought to measure the impact of Zinc supplementation on hospitalisations and deaths in low-income communities in New Delhi, India. During the course of the study, 85,633 children were enrolled and monitored over one year of follow-up. Of the 430 deaths that occurred, 230 were female (0.57% of total females), while 200 were male (0.43% of all males). Despite this higher mortality amongst females (p

Keywords: Gender; Care-seeking; Excess; female; mortality; Maternal; education; Socio-economic; development; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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