Determinants of child health: an empirical analysis

Infant and child mortality rates in India have fallen by almost half from the time of adoption of millennium development goals to 2012 but there has not been a concurrent decrease in morbidity and under-nutrition rates. This may be due to a greater focus on treatment interventions visà-vis preventive interventions that reduce child deaths; the latter helps in overall child wellbeing by reducing under-nourishment and number of days lost due to illness. This study seeks to identify the mechanisms through which household and community-level socioeconomic factors affect child health and thereby identify preventive interventions that are of greatest consequence.