The impact of household wealth on child survival in Ghana

Abstract

BackgroundImproving child health is one of the major policy agendas for most of the governments, especially in the developing countries. These governments have been implementing various strategies such as improving healthcare financing, improving access to health, increasing educational level, and income level of the household to improve child health. Despite all these efforts, under-five and infant mortality rates remain high in many developing nations. Some previous studies examined how economic development or household’s economic condition contributes to child survival in developing countries. In Ghana, the question as to what extent does economic circumstances of households reduces infant and child mortality still remain largely unanswered. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which wealth affects the survival of under-five children, using data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of Ghana.MethodsIn this study, we use four waves of data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of Ghana from 1993 to 2008. The DHS is a detailed data set that provides comprehensive information on households and their demographic characteristics in Ghana. Data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to women (from 6000 households) of reproductive age between 15 and 49 years, which asked, among other things, their birth history information. The Weibull hazard model with gamma frailty was used to estimate wealth effect, as well as the trend of wealth effect on child’s survival probability.ResultsWe find that household wealth status has a significant effect on the child survival in Ghana. A child is more likely to survive when he/she is from a household with high wealth status. Among other factors, birth spacing and parental education were found to be highly significant to increase a child’s survival probability.ConclusionsOur findings offer plausible mechanisms for the association of household wealth and child survival. We therefore suggest that the Government of Ghana strengthens and sustains improved livelihood programs, which reduce poverty. They should also take further initiatives that will increase adult education and improve health knowledge. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Ghana that combines four cross sectional data sets from DHS to study a policy-relevant question. We extend Standard Weibull hazard model into Weibull hazard model with gamma frailty, which gives us a more accurate estimation. Finally, the findings of this study are of interest not only because they provide insights into the determinants of child health in Ghana and other developing countries, but they also suggest policies beyond the scope of health.

Maternal Education, Fertility, and Child Survival in Comoros

“…The results further indicated that children that were born as twins had lower probability of surviving across the different estimated models, when compared with single births. Similar results had been reported by Schoeps et al [69] and Lartey et al [70]. In the context of socio-economic conditions in Comoros, inadequate nutrition, inadequate healthcare facilities and persistent poverty can reduce survival of twin children.…”

“…In some other instances, immediate care by mothers to twin children may be delayed due to some complications accompany their birth [71,72,73]. Some other studies from Bangladesh [74], Nigeria [75], Ghana [70], and some countries in southern and eastern Africa [76] had reported similar findings.…”

Determinants of normal haemoglobin concentration among children in Ghana: a positive deviance analysis of nationally representative cross-sectional survey data

“…The differential effect can be explained by the fact that children in rich households are likely have easy access to nutritious food and better caring practices, prerequisites for optimal child health. The effect of household wealth on normal Hb concentration could be a confirmation of the widely recognised health benefits of living in better-off households 44,[48][49][50] . Conversely, Agho and colleagues 51 observed that children from the richest and middle-class households had a lower Hb concentration than those from the poorest households 51 .…”

Exploring causal pathways for factors associated with neonatal, infant and under-five mortality, analysis of 2015-2016 Myanmar Demographic Health Survey

“…16 Low income is associated with higher rates of infant and under-five mortality similarly to our findings. [16][17][18] For instance, in Myanmar under-five children from the lowest wealth quintile household experienced a higher rate of death compared to their counterparts from the highest wealth quintiles. Poorer households are likely to account for a large proportion of the population living in rural and remote locations characterised by inadequate housing infrastructure.…”