Maternal health and child mortality in rural India

In this paper, the effect of maternal health on the under-five mortality has been examined. Third wave of micro-level National Family Health Survey 2005-06 data for rural India is used. Using various alternative measures of maternal health, the paper finds strong association between maternal health and child mortality. In particular, the effects of maternal height, weight, presence of any disease and anemia are found significant. Based on our findings, we argue that if the possible generational transfer of poor health from a mother to her child has to avoid, policies aimed at attaining the millennium development goal of reduced child mortality should be directed on improving the health of existing and future mothers.under-five mortality; maternal height; maternal weight; body mass index; anemia

Labor force participation among Indian elderly: does health matter?

The paper analyzes the effect of health status on labour force participation for aged Indians. The potential endogeneity in health and labour force participation has been taken care of by using full information maximum likelihood (FIML) and estimation results are compared with alternative two-stage methods. Results show that health has a significant and positive effect on labour force participation of the aged. In order to keep enough supply of elderly in the labour market, sufficient health care is necessary and hence more investment in this sector is imperative.self-reported health status; labour force participation; elderly; endogeneity; exogeneity; simultaneous equation model

Maternal health and child mortality in rural India

In this paper, the effect of maternal health on the under-five mortality has been examined. Third wave of micro-level National Family Health Survey 2005-06 data for rural India is used. Using various alternative measures of maternal health, the paper finds strong association between maternal health and child mortality. In particular, the effects of maternal height, weight, presence of any disease and anemia are found significant. Based on our findings, we argue that if the possible generational transfer of poor health from a mother to her child has to avoid, policies aimed at attaining the millennium development goal of reduced child mortality should be directed on improving the health of existing and future mothers.under-five mortality; maternal height; maternal weight; body mass index; anemia