Financial protection and child health: a propensity score matching analysis
| dc.contributor.author | Kekana , Loveness Mmamodila | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-02-16T06:14:26Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-02-16T06:14:26Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022 | |
| dc.description | A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in Health Economics to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022 | |
| dc.description.abstract | One of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3 is to achieve universal coverage, including financial risk protection for all. Financial protection aims to promote and maintain individuals’ health outcomes through securing access to treatment and care. The lack of health insurance and unaffordability of health care services increases the risk of poor health outcomes in children. This study uses data from the South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES-1), to investigate the relationship between child health outcomes measured by anaemia, cough, fever, diarrhoea, vitamin A deficiency, wasting and stunting, and financial protection. The study uses Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to determine the average treatment effects and treatment effects on the treated of financial protection. Four matching algorithms namely: nearest neighbour, calliper radius, kernel and local linear regressions were used to ascertain the robustness of the econometric results. The results indicate a statistically significant negative relationship between financial protection and coughing and fever when there is strong financial protection. The average treatment effects on the treated vary across the sex of the child. Strong financial protection reduces the prevalence of childhood illnesses more in females than it does in males. The study indicates that financial protection affects child health outcomes differently and therefore produces mixed results. These differences are attributable to the fact that the public sector provides free primary health care services for children in South Africa. | |
| dc.description.librarian | PC(2023) | |
| dc.faculty | Faculty Commerce, Law and Management | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10539/34528 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.school | School of Economics and Finance | |
| dc.title | Financial protection and child health: a propensity score matching analysis | |
| dc.type | Dissertation |