Gender Differences in Child Health-Care Practices: Evidence from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 1990-91 (POPULATIONS Studies) (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Among other factors, health care utilisation is important in determining the health status and survival chances of children. The patterns of childhood mortality, in general, indicate that deaths of male children have consistently exceeded those of females, with a much greater difference in the first month of birth (NNR). This has largely been attributed to differences in the genetic and biological factors between the sexes [Lopez and Ruzika (1983)]. The mortality level, thereafter, is influenced more by the socio-economic, environmental, and health care factors, indicating a mortality disadvantage for females in some populations. It has therefore been postulated that gender-based differences in health care practices partly explain the sex differentials in child mortality in some countries of South Asia, where health-seeking behaviour of parents discriminates against female children [Chen, et al. (1981); Das Gupta (1987); Sathar (1987); Ahmed (1990)].