Files
Abstract
This study examines how quality, price, and access to curative health care influence
use of modern public, modern private, and traditional providers among 3,000 children age
0-2 years in Cebu, Philippines. The analysis relies on a series of household, community,
and health facility surveys conducted in 33 rural and urban communities during
1983B1986. The inclusion of data on potential health care users and available providers
makes it possible to investigate the impact of the health care environment on demand.
Furthermore, since the study is not limited to only those children whose mothers report
them as currently ill, it avoids the possible biases caused by using a sample comprised of
those who self-report morbidity.
Distance to care is important for reducing demand, unlike user fees that show no
significant effects on the use of modern public or private services. The availability of oral
rehydration therapy and child vaccines, as well as the proportion of doctors to staff, are
important for increasing the use of public care, while supplies of intravenous diarrhea
treatments raise the demand for private services. Nonmodern practitioners were used
more if they had recently attended an nongovernment- or government-sponsored health
training session. Parental human capital and household income increase the utilization of
private services. Children who are male and younger than 6 months of age are more
likely to be taken to private and traditional providers, the two more expensive types of
care.