The impact of the quality of health care on children's nutrition and survival in Ghana
The authors use objectively measured anthropometric outcomes, which reflect the nutritional status of an individual, as health indicators, focusing on child height (by age and sex) and weight (by height). Also analyzes the determinants of the probability of child survival, a measure considered to be an alternative indicator of health status. The results presented suggest an important role for public health policy in eliminating the rural-urban disparities in health status and particularly in improving the health status of rural children and reducing their mortality rates. In urban areas they were unable to precisely measure many of the effects of health infrastructure on child outcomes. However, in rural areas the findings suggest that increasing the provision of basic health services, such as adequate supplies of basic drugs, will yield high social returns in terms of improved child health and survival probabilities. -from Authors