Francis Obare and Collins Opiyo. "Medical care–seeking behavior and child health in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of maternal age and socioeconomic status."

ABSTRACT

This paper uses Demographic and Health Survey data collected since 2000 to examine care-seeking behavior for child health in 23 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on the role of maternal age, maternal education, and household economic conditions on the likelihood of receiving medical treatment among children aged less than five years who had diarrhea, fever, or acute respiratory infection in the two weeks prior to the survey. The results show that children of younger mothers are less likely to receive medical treatment compared to those of older mothers in most of the countries. Likewise, children of mothers of low socioeconomic status are less likely to receive medical treatment than those of mothers of high socioeconomic status in a majority of the countries. This suggests that mothers who are young or of low socioeconomic status continue to be disadvantaged in terms of access to child health services in the region.

Session P-1: Poster Session 1
Tuesday, 11 December 2007, 12:45–2:15 pm

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