Demand for Immunization, Parental Selection, and Child Survival: Evidence from Rural India

Abstract

This study focuses on the estimation of demand for immunization as well as its technological effect on the survival probability of a child in rural India. Careful attention is paid to the consequences of parental selection on survival technology and demand for health inputs. The results suggest that child mortality is negatively related to the likelihood of purchasing vaccination, but imperfect vaccination substantially reduce the beneficial effect. Results also suggest that a mother who perceives her child faces a risk of higher likelihood of death compensates for their beliefs in a beneficial way. Consequently, estimations that ignore this selection underestimate the impact of immunization on child survival. Mothers also engage in complementary behavior by reinforcing investment when they choose among health inputs. Estimations that ignore the complementarity substantially overstate the impact of prenatal care and delivery care on demand for immunization. The evidence for complementarity among measured inputs also implies that there might be favorable selection between measured and unmeasured inputs, although the adverse selection seems dominant in this study. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005immunization, self-selection, household production, health inputs,

Inequitable childhood immunization uptake in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis of individual and contextual determinants

“…Community hospital delivery was included because the proportion of mothers that delivered in a hospital setting is a predictor of child immunization uptake. Hospital delivery is one of the most important preventive measures against maternal and child health outcomes, and an important determinant of full immunization [25,26]. Community mother's education was assessed because higher levels of maternal education are associated with better child health outcomes, such as child immunization rates [23,24].…”

Estimating the impact of antenatal care visits on institutional delivery in India: A propensity score matching analysis

“…According to studies, subsequent utilization of health care facilities might be increased because of learning by-doing, that is, subsequent participation in the systems may be greatly influenced by the earlier experience [15]. Further, several visits to the health centre may develop a familiarity with health care systems, increasing the likelihood that mothers will later rely on these systems for the benefit of their children.…”

“…Many researchers demonstrate that a woman's beliefs, about the risk and effectiveness of health care affect the likelihood that she delivers her birth in an institution [7,11,15]. Therefore, literature also negates the positive impact of ANC visit on institutional delivery.…”

Socio-Economic Determinants of Child Immunization in Rural Ethiopia

“…Recent empirical studies in developing countries of Asia (Lee, ; Borooah, ), Latin America (Barham & Maluccio, ) and Sub‐Saharan Africa (Brugha & Kevany, ; Agadjanian & Prata, ) indicate that (lack of) knowledge about the benefits of immunization, cultural factors, as well as social, economic and health system variables are important determinants of childhood immunization. However, one important lesson from these previous studies is that there is no universal set of factors determining child immunization in all settings.…”