Child Health and Poverty in Pakistan

Abstract

This study examines the health status of Pakistani children using two important indicators, morbidity and malnutrition measured by weight-for-age and height-for-age. The demand for medical services has also been determined. The main data source used in this study is the 2000-01 Pakistan Social-Economic Survey (PSES), which provides sufficient information on child health and poverty. Findings of the study show that both exclusive breastfeeding during the first 4-5 months of life and immunisation can help control the occurrence of illness significantly among the young children (0-5 months). These also reinforce the role of mother’s education in the production of child health (nutritional status). This role of mother’s education is found to be more pronounced in the poor families than in the non-poor families. The rise in poverty since the mid-1990s has adversely influenced the nutritional status of children. The basic issue is about how to reduce the household food insecurity. The benefits of recent high GDP growth may be transferred to the poor through employment generation, which has been slow in the past decade. Real incomes of the poor and the vulnerable segments of the population may also be protected against the rise in prices of essential food items. At present, the health and nutrition sector is getting only 0.7 percent of the GDP. Health care facilities in the country are curative in nature, and are heavily skewed in favour of the diagnostic and treatment side, not preventive healthcare aspects. More resources should be made available for preventive healthcare aspects. Coverage of child immunisation should be enhanced, and the provision of safe drinkingwater may be given high priority in the social sector policies.

Parental Education and Child Health—Understanding the Pathways of Impact in Pakistan

“…Once again, this could reflect the nature of the decision-differential treatment may be more visible in participation decisions rather than more long-term health-input decisions. The absence of a gender effect in height and weight outcomes is consistent with other studies in Pakistan (Arif, 2004;World Bank, 2002 ). The signs on child age and its square imply that immunization scores increase at a decreasing rate as the child becomes older which is consistent with normal immunization behavior.…”

“…Arif (2004) also notes a positive effect of mother's schooling on child height and weight outcomes using data from Pakistan from 2001 although their estimates are simple OLS estimates.…”

Malnutrition in primary school‐age children

“…Mehmood and Mahomood (1995) concluded that boys get a preferential treatment in allocation of food relative to girls. Arif (2004) have found no gender bias for underweight and stunting of the children under five years age (Mehmood and Mahomood, 1995;Hafeez, 2001). Ali (2000) concluded that in curative or preventive health-care utilization of Pakistani children, there exists no significant difference by gender.…”

“…The preventive health-care aspects are somewhat ignored. Provision of safe drinking water and underground sewage should be given priority in the social sector policies (Arif, 2004).…”

Spatial and Temporal Investigation of Multidimensional Poverty in Rural Pakistan

“…In this regard, planners may plan to improve the supplementary factors, that is, shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture, controlled household sizes, household dependency ratio, and initiation of non-farm employment opportunities (Datt & Jolliffe, 1999). This strategic approach may result in better income and subsequently improved access to educational, housing, and health facilities in the long run (Arif, 2000(Arif, , 2004Chaudhry, 2009;Datt & Jolliffe, 1999).…”