Parental Care on Under Five Child Health Outcomes in Zimbabwe

Pius Gamette, Refiloe Jabari and Sibusisiwe Bertha Muperere

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This study examines the effect of parental care on child health outcomes (stunting, wasting and underweight) in Zimbabwe. The study uses data from the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey(ZDHS) (1994-2015) by employing the Ordinary Least Method (OLS) regression approach. The results indicate that breastfeeding and vaccination on each count has a significant negative effect on under-five child health outcomes (stunting and wasting). On the contrary, child-size shows a significant positive effect on wasting and underweight among under-five children in Zimbabwe. Area of residence indicates an under five-child in an urban center is less likely to be wasting than its contemporary in a rural area. The individual effects of mothers’ education, wealth index, child’s sex and marital status show insignificant effects under-five child health outcomes. The policy implication is that health professionals should intensify education on early child suckling and succeeding dietary mix to obviate poor health outcomes. This study also implores the Ministry of Health and Child Care in Zimbabwe to review existing vaccination programmes by extending to households with poor child health outcomes found in inaccessible areas. As a contribution, this study provides a platform for deliberations on family care and child health care in African societies.

Keywords: Child health outcome; Anthropometric measures; Parental care; Demographic health survey; Zimbabwe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I3 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021, Revised 2021-03
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Published in Shanlax International Journal of Economics 2.9(2021): pp. 1-9

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