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Item Restricted The continuum of maternal care and its effects on neonatal survival in the Philippines: testing the WHO recommendations(2014-04) Bundoc, Filipinas G.; Quimbo, Stella Luz A.Progress reports on the Millennium Development Goals underscore the need to reduce neonatal mortality in order to meet the country's targets for child mortality. This paper examines the importance of pregnant women seeking the World Health Organization-recommended levels of antenatal care coverage as well as making appropriate facility choice decisions for delivery in reducing neonatal deaths. The focus is on the effects of compliance with combined standards on the timing and frequency of check-ups, i.e., the recommended continuum of care, which addresses the changes in risk conditions throughout the pregnancy. Using data from the 2008 National Demographic andHealth Survey, results indicate that after controlling for the maternal and fetal characteristics, children born of women who completed the recommended check-ups and delivered in a facility are more likely to survive neonatal period compared to those who did not comply with the WHO-recommended care. Those born of women who had late initiation of care but fulfilled all other check-ups thereafter had better neonatal outcomes compared to non-compliers. In addition, women who sought care only in the first two trimesters give birth to children who are less likely to survive neonatal period. These results suggest the need to encourage pregnant women to obtain the appropriate levels of care at the right time and deliver in a facility. This can be achieved with increased efforts in integrating pregnant women into the health care system.Item Restricted Public investments and child health outcomes(2006-10) Acorda, Elarny S.; Arao, Rosa Mia L.; Quimbo, Stella L.This paper assesses the effects of donor-assisted projects in impoverished communities through an assessment of the ARMM Social Fund Project. The program was first assessed on its design features and then by measuring their impact on several welfare indicators. The use of simple regression techniques determined the effect of intervention variables on their respective welfare indicators. Results of the regression analysis offers mixed results on the effects of the intervention, which is still open for further discussion. The paper suggests that more robust results would emerge if certain aspects of the project's design were modified. This paper assesses the effects of donor-assisted projects in impoverished communities through an assessment of the ARMM Social Fund Project. The program was first assessed on its design features and then by measuring their impact on several welfare indicators. The use of simple regression techniques determined the effect of intervention variables on their respective welfare indicators. Results of the regression analysis offers mixed results on the effects of the intervention, which is still open for further discussion. The paper suggests that more robust results would emerge if certain aspects of the project's design were modified. Using the data from the Quality Improvement Demonstration Study (QIDS), this study examines the determinants of child health in the provinces of Region 6 (Iloilo, Capiz, Negros Occidental), Region 7 (Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental), Region 8 (Leyte, Eastern Samar) and the islands of Biliran, Siquijor, and Camiguin. Specifically, we seek to provide an indirect assessment of the impact of public health commodities which are typically provided for by the government such as health facilities, water, sanitation, prenatal care, including breastfeeding and immunization programs. We use two measures of child health outcomes - anthropometric measures and self-reported health assessments by the mother. For the anthropometries, we use standardized z-scores for height-for-age (stunting), weight-for-height (wasting), and weight-for age (underweight) of children based on a reference population. Logistic regression was used for the analysis of anthropometric measures while Ordered Probit was used for the self-reported health assessments by the mother. The regression results for the anthropometric measures indicate that child and household characteristics such as maternal education and monthly income strongly affect child health, although these results vary across anthropometric parameters. Access to health facilities also positively affect child health indicated by doctor in-charge of delivery of baby and birth weight, a proxy variable for access to prenatal care. Moreover, breastfeeding and immunization also seem to be significantly associated with child health outcomes. Similarly, child health as measured by mother-reported health status is also correlated with child and household characteristics such as age and household size, respectively. Health infrastructure, particularly the presence of piped water system and sanitary toilet, are shown to be significant correlates of child health. Public health commodities which are typically provided for by the government, such as access to health facilities, health infrastructure, immunization and breastfeeding are shown to improve child health outcomes. The analysis of the determinants of child heath points to the importance not only of the common correlates of child health particularly maternal education and family resources but also to the significance of community variables and access to public health commodities. Our study is helpful to policy makers, stakeholders, advocates and researchers who wish to obtain an understanding of the determinants of child health and the impacts of public health commodities on child health. It also makes a case in support of child health investments, as a way of securing positive health outcomes for children's well-being and by extension, improving our human capital and influencing the direction and quality of development in the country.Item Restricted Nutritional status of 0-5 year old children in Bukidnon(2008-01) Aquino, Ma. Corazon Kris M.; Quines, Angel Rose P.; Tan, Edita AbellaThe central task of this paper is to investigate which determinants of child nutritional status have impacts in the short-run and/or the long-run. Percent height-for-age (hfa) score, a cumulative indicator of a child's nutritional status, was used as a long-term measure and percent weight-for- height score, (wfh) which reflects more recent processes often associated with food intake, illness, caring practices of the caregiver and sanitation practices of the household, was used as a short-term measure. The researchers used the 2004 Bukidnon Panel Survey, which followed the migrant children of the 1984 households. The significant determinants of long-term nutritional status of the child were income, mother's education, income-education interaction term, mother's age, mother's height and mother's height-age interaction term. On the other hand, caloric intake and access to clean source of water were found to have positive and strong impacts on the short-term nutritional status of the child. The insignificance of the gender variable also implies the absence of gender bias and physiological impacts on gender specific short-term and long-term nutrition status.Item Restricted Infant and child mortality in the Philippines(2008-10) Cabal, Billie Kristel D.G.; Morada, Julienne Marie A.; Tan, EditaItem Restricted The effect of provincial income class on the determinants of infant mortality in the Philippines(2008-04) Gonzales, Kimberely; Prado, Erika GiaInfant mortality is an urgent national concern for many developing countries. While a decline in aggregate Philippine infant mortality rates has been observed, the national average masks the fact that less developed provinces achieve relatively meager improvements in child mortality. In order to derive policy implications on how to best address the problem of health inequalities, separate regressions are run for three groups of provinces: first income class, second income class, and third and fourth income classes. The results reveal variations on the significance of child health determinants. In particular, public expenditures are significant explanatory variables in lower income provinces, but insignificant in richer provinces. This implies that the government must consider provincial income per capita in allocating its resources, allotting a bigger portion to less developed provinces. The Local Government Code of 1991, which states how government resources are allocated among local government units, was not intended to be progressive. Education and the number of public hospitals also show greater effects on infant mortality rates in lower economic sectors. Conversely, household expenditures on health and the number of private hospitals are found to be more significant in provinces with higher income.