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Women's participation in rural credit programmes in Bangladesh and their demand for formal health care: is there a positive impact?1

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  • Priya Nanda

Abstract

Within the overall aim of poverty alleviation, development efforts have included credit and self‐employment programmes. In Bangladesh, the major beneficiaries of such group‐based credit programmes are rural women who use the loans to initiate small informal income‐generating activities. This paper explores the benefits of women's participation in credit programmes on their own health seeking. Using data from a sample of 1798 households from rural Bangladesh, conducted in 1991–1992 through repeated random sampling of 87 districts covered by Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), this paper addresses the question: does women's participation in credit programmes significantly affect their use of formal health care? A non‐unitary household preference model is suggested to test the hypothesis that women's empowerment through participation in these programmes results in greater control of resources for their own demand for formal health care. The analysis controls for endogeneity due to self‐selection and other unobserved village level factors through the use of a weighted two stage instrumental variable approach with village level fixed effects. The findings indicate a positive impact of women's participation in credit programmes on their demand for formal health care. The policy simulations on the results of this study highlight the importance of credit programmes as a health intervention in addition to being a mechanism for women's economic empowerment. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Priya Nanda, 1999. "Women's participation in rural credit programmes in Bangladesh and their demand for formal health care: is there a positive impact?1," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(5), pages 415-428, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:8:y:1999:i:5:p:415-428
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1050(199908)8:5<415::AID-HEC450>3.0.CO;2-L
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    2. B. Savitha & Kiran K. B., 2015. "Microhealth insurance and the risk coping strategies for the management of illness in Karnataka: a case study," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 145-163, April.
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    6. Yu-hwei Tseng & Mujibul Alam Khan, 2015. "Where Do the Poorest Go to Seek Outpatient Care in Bangladesh: Hospitals Run by Government or Microfinance Institutions?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Masud Ahmed, Syed & Chowdhury, Mushtaque & Bhuiya, Abbas, 2001. "Micro-Credit and Emotional Well-Being: Experience of Poor Rural Women from Matlab, Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1957-1966, November.
    8. Noray, Savannah & Janzen, Sarah A., 2017. "Household Migration and Expenditure Decisions," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258539, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Jutting, Johannes Paul, 2002. "The Impact Of Health Insurance On The Access To Health Care And Financial Protection In Rural Areas Of Developing Countries: Case Study Senegal," 2002 Annual meeting, July 28-31, Long Beach, CA 19641, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
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