The demand for child health services in the Philippines

Little research has focused on the factors affecting use of components of primary health care services, particularly in developing countries. This study examines the patterns of usage of child health care provided for preschoolers by modern public, modern private and traditional health practitioners as well as by self treatment. A simultaneous logit framework is used to study the determinants of choice among these four child health service alternatives. The analysis is based on the Bicol Multipurpose Survey, conducted in one of the poorest regions of the Philippines as a multivisit household and community survey of 1906 households and 100 communities, representative of the three major provinces in this region.