Open AccessA Silent Crisis: The Impact of Public Health Expenditure on Malnutrition Prevalence in Children Aged Below Five in the Philippines
Author(s) -
Joanna Marie V. Manrique,
Gabriel Masangkay,
Nicasio Angelo J. Agustin
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of economics, finance and accounting studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2709-0809
DOI - 10.32996/jefas.2022.4.1.7
Subject(s) - wasting , malnutrition , underweight , public health , urbanization , environmental health , sanitation , poverty , economics , food security , government (linguistics) , socioeconomics , medicine , geography , economic growth , body mass index , agriculture , linguistics , philosophy , nursing , archaeology , pathology , endocrinology , overweight
This study mainly aims to determine whether public health expenditures have been effective in reducing malnutrition among children aged below five in the Philippines. The researchers construct a Grossman (1972) model-based health production function, which treats economic, social, and environmental factors as determinants of nutritional status. OLS estimates show that an increase in food security rates, a decrease in poverty incidence rates, and an increase in the level of urbanization significantly reduce stunting rates. However, no statistically significant relationship exists between the aforementioned independent variables and underweight and wasting rates (aside from the level of urbanization and wasting). In all regression models, the coefficient estimate for public health expenditure is valued near zero and is statistically insignificant, implying that government spending on health has been insubstantial and ineffective in reducing malnutrition prevalence.