Demand for reproductive health services in Benin: testing inter-relationships and parents’ education association for sustainable recovery

Abstract

In this study, we explore the inter-relationships among the demand for reproductive health services in Benin through the analysis of the complementarity hypothesis and its association with parents’ education. To that end, we investigate the link between a mother’s demand for immunization against tetanus and her child’s birth weight. Using the 2017’s Demographics and Health Survey data set, we estimated a control function model as well as a Heckman selectivity model to deal with potential sample selection bias since birth weight for some of the infants is missing, endogeneity of tetanus immunisation to birth weight and heterogeneity of response of birth weight to vaccination. Findings of our study show that the mother’s immunization against tetanus during pregnancy is key in the child’s birth weight that determine his health status along his adulthood, suggesting that antenatal care services complement other reproductive health services that improve the health of the child in the womb. Moreover, demand for health care services is associated with parents’ education specially the mother’s education.