“Does Parental
Education Affect the Impact of Provision of Health Care on Health Status of
Children? - Evidence from India”
Citation: Bhakta, R. and A. Ganesh-Kumar.
2014. “Does Parental Education Affect the Impact of Provision of Health Care on
Health Status of Children? - Evidence from India”, Working
Paper 2014-036, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai.
Abstract: The objective of the study is to
analyse the impact of provision of health care facilities on the child health
status taking into account the utilization of these available facilities. The
study offers an insight into how parental education plays a significant role in
explaining the slow progress in the health status of children. The results
confirm that additional provision of health care facilities leads to
significant increase in utilization of institutional delivery services and
antenatal care which in turn improves the health status of a child. At the same
time, we have observed that mere provision of more health care services will
not solve the problem at the rate required to achieve acceptable levels of
child health status. The model for utilization of health services reveals the
fact that, schooling affects health seeking behavior
among women which in turn results in greater utilization of institutional
benefits in a region where the services are available. Thus female education
must be enhanced to increase the utilization of antenatal care at a faster
rate. Further, educated parents can manage child care practices in more
efficient ways which offer them an additional edge among those who availed
those facilities. To have a better utilization of available health care
services and to raise the pace of reduction in child mortality rates government
has to pay attention to increase education level of adults along with the
expansion of health care centres.