title: Gender role and child health care utilization in Nepal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the gender role in child health care utilization in Nepal.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed 8112 individual observations of age </=15 years from 2847 households in 274 communities, obtained from the 1996 Nepal Living Standard Survey. Four steps of a health seeking action, namely illness reporting, choosing an external care, choosing a specific health care provider, and spending money to treat the sick child, were examined using discrete/continuous choice models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no statistically significant difference between boys and girls by demographic, socio-economic and geographical status in the sample. However, gender was associated with all four utilization decision steps. While the net effect of being a boy was modest in illness reporting (p<0.10), it appeared stronger in the choice of external care, in the choice of public provider and in the choice of expenditure with the private provider (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gender role not only affects illness reporting but also affects the decision to choose a health care provider and how much to spend on the sick child, i.e. it affects the entire steps of a health seeking action.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, University of Heidelberg, INF 324, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. subhash.pokhrel@urz.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Subhash
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pokhrel
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Snow
authors.forename: Hengjin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Budi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hidayat
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flessa
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sauerborn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009390:Nepal; D012737:Sex Factors