SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF CHILD HEALTH IN PAKISTAN

The present study uses the 2004-05 PSLM Survey to determine the economic, demographic, environmental and geographical factors of child morbidity among the sampled children. This sample is restricted to children under five years of age (0-4) years and the PSLM has identified 13540 children in this age group. The sample is divided into nine agro-climatic zones of rural areas and it also includes two classifications of urban areas: MUCs and OUCs. Findings of this study have confirmed the positive role of economic factors including land and livestock with respect to child health. Both the ownership of land and livestock are means of livelihood for peoples of rural areas. They contribute to better child health by increasing income of household. With respect to prevalence of child morbidity, multivariate analysis show that younger children, particularly under the age of two, are relatively at a greater risk to suffer from child sickness. The findings of this study suggest that mothers should be given awareness about personal hygiene, and specially of preparing supplementary food for children. This study also revealed that total number of children born and immunization are more helpful to control child sickness across rural geographical zones.