Household Economic Wellbeing and Child Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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Date
2020-12-03
Authors
Kasiwa, Janvier Mwisha-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research consortium
Abstract
Health is both a direct component of human well-being and a form of human capital
that increases an individual’s capabilities and opportunities to generate income,
and reduces vulnerability. It is argued that these two views are complementary and
both can be used to justify increased investment in health in developing countries.
Therefore, investment in child health constitutes a potential mechanism to end the
intergenerational transmission of poverty. This paper examines the empirical impact of
household economic well-being on child health, and the gender differences in effects
using the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, or DRC) Demographic and
Health Survey conducted in 2014. A series of econometric tools are used; the control
function approach appears to be the most appropriate strategy as it simultaneously
removes structural parameters from endogeneity, the sample selection and
heterogeneity of the unobservable variables. Results suggest a significant positive
effect of household economic well-being on child health. However, the magnitude
of the effect varies by gender of household head; children from households headed
by males appear healthier compared to those from female-headed households. In
the context of DR Congo, female-headed households often have a single parent,
therefore, the economic well-being effect on child health in the male sub-sample
can be considered to include the unobserved contribution of women. These results
have implications for public interventions that enable women to participate in paid
labour market activities as a means of improving household economic well-being,
which in turn could improve child health.
Description
Health Economics
Keywords
economic well-being , Child health , underweight , Democratic Republic of the Congo