Social determinants of health in rural Zimbabwe: an econometric data analysis

This research focused on ten social determinants of health which are work type, asset ownership, personal income, age, distance to primary health centre, gender, present locality, severity of illness, education and lastly culture. The endogenous variable was health. A stratified random sampling technique was used to collect primary data from 398 observations and the data was manipulated using stata version 11. The probit model empirical results showed that, gender, distance to primary health centre, personal income, education, culture and present location statistically significant at 1% level of significance. Work type was significant at 5% level. The variables work type, gender, and education had positive influence, while distance to primary health facility, personal income and present location had a negative influence to the probability of being health. Recommendations include building more health centres, harmonisation of traditional, spiritual and conventional clinics, discouraging rural urban migration and taxing luxury products.