tailieunhanh - Genetic Endowments, Parental and Child Health in Rural Ethiopia CSAE WPS/2003-10

Variations in oral health practice patterns reflect several factors (1;3;22). First, oral health screening and referral are not routinely included in prenatal care. Second, many oral health professionals are hesitant to treat pregnant women. Third, while most children do not visit a dentist until age three, these same children usually have visited a child health professional 11 times for well-child visits during the same time period. Although there are gaps in knowledge, there is sufficient evidence to recommend appropriate oral health care for pregnant women and young children. For these reasons, the New York State Department of Health convened an expert. | Genetic Endowments Parental and Child Health in Rural Ethiopia CSAE WPS 2003-10 Bereket Kebede Wellbeing in Developing Countries WeD ESRC Research Group University of Bath and Centre for the Study of African Economies Oxford University August 2003 JEL Classification D13 I12 Key words Ethiopia child health intra-household allocation genetic influences in health Acknowledgement This working paper draws from my DPhil thesis. I am very grateful to my supervisors Paul Collier Pramila Krishnan Jan Gunning and Marcel Fafchamps for their intellectual guidance at different stages of my studies at Oxford. Corresponding Author Bereket Kebede Wellbeing in Developing Countries WeD ESRC Research Group 3 East University of Bath Bath BA2 7AY United Kingdom Email address Genetic Endowments Parental and Child Health in Rural Ethiopia Genetic Endowments Parental and Child Health in Rural Ethiopia Abstract This paper examines the determinants of child health in rural Ethiopia for the period 1994-97 using height-for-age z-scores as measures of long-term health. The panel nature of the data helps to control for community household and individual level heterogeneity. Unlike most previous studies the influence of parental health on children is examined. In addition the role of genetic endowments in the relationship between child and parental health is analysed. Unlike most studies in the health literature no significant correlation between children s health and per capita expenditures is found. This reinforces the widespread suspicion that most income coefficients in the literature are biased upwards due to correlation between unobservable heterogeneity and income levels. But the height of parents is highly significant in all specifications. Even though most prices are not significant the prices of food items that are mostly consumed by children are significantly and negatively related to child health. Birth order has a significant impact on the health of children