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Does prenatal care increase access to child immunization? Gender bias among children in India

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  • Choi, Jin Young
  • Lee, Sang-Hyop

Abstract

Prenatal care appears to serve as a trigger in increasing the chances for access to subsequent health care services. Although several previous studies have investigated this connection, none have focused specifically on how parents' behavior differs before and after learning the gender of their babies. Investigating parents' behavioral changes after the child's birth provides a quasi-natural experiment with which to test the gender discrimination hypothesis. This issue was examined here, using a rich family health survey data set from India. We find evidence for the triggering effect of prenatal care on immunization only among rural boys, but we find no compelling evidence for this effect among other sub-samples. This finding suggests two things, which are not mutually exclusive. One is that the information spillover from prenatal care has a much larger impact in rural areas, where alternative sources of information are scarce, compared with urban areas. The other is that the sex of a child is a critical factor in producing different levels of health care behavior in rural areas, where sons are favored and more valued than in urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Choi, Jin Young & Lee, Sang-Hyop, 2006. "Does prenatal care increase access to child immunization? Gender bias among children in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 107-117, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:1:p:107-117
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    2. Justina A.V. Fischer & Christian Bjornskov & Axel Dreher, 2007. "On Gender Inequality and Life Satisfaction: Does Discrimination Matter?," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2007 2007-07, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    3. Singh, Prashant Kumar & Parasuraman, Sulabha, 2014. "‘Looking beyond the male–female dichotomy’ – Sibling composition and child immunization in India, 1992–2006," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 145-153.
    4. Social Policy and Population Section, Social Development Division, ESCAP., 2006. "Asia-Pacific Population Journal Volume 21, No. SP," Asia-Pacific Population Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 21(SP), pages 1-116, November.
    5. Adnan M.S. Fakir & Tushar Bharati, 2022. "Health Costs of a "Healthy Democracy": The Impact of Peaceful Political Protests on Healthcare Utilization," Working Paper Series 0522, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Tushar Bharati & Adnan M. S. Fakir, 2022. "Health Costs of a “Healthy Democracy”: The Impact of Peaceful Political Protests on Healthcare Utilization," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 22-15, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    7. Maldonado, Javier, 2019. "Detecting Gender Discrimination in Intrahousehold Resource Allocation," DES - Working Papers. Statistics and Econometrics. WS 28146, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Estadística.

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