Socio-economic inequalities and their impact on children's health and nutrition in Tunisia using generalized entropy measures

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the drivers of inequality of opportunity in health outcome among children below 5 years of age, using the Tunisian 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. This study adopts the general entropy measures to examine the pattern of child health inequality. The results of the anthropometric measures show that 1.5% of children in Tunisia are underweight, 8.3% are stunting and 2.1% are wasting. The results of generalized entropy measures indicate that the general disparity in child health is low across demographic characteristics. Inequality of opportunity in Tunisia is particularly high in access to health services between regions. The results also show that geographical location, parental education and wealth are the main factors contributing to inequality of opportunity in child health outcome. On the basis of the results, this research suggests several policy recommendations.