title: Constraints on Compliance and the Impact of Health Information in Rural Pakistan.
abstract: The provision of information, which is a common public health strategy, may be ineffective if recommendations are not privately optimal for message recipients. This paper evaluates the response to a hygiene information campaign in rural Pakistan. In a theoretical model, baseline hygiene and health proxy for preferences, prices, and wealth, which jointly moderate the impact of information. We show that people with good baseline hygiene and health respond differentially to the hygiene message. This result, which does not appear to arise through differential learning, suggests that practical constraints limit the adoption of hygiene recommendations. Information provision may exacerbate health inequality under these conditions.
authors.affiliation: Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Syed Ali
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Asjad Naqvi
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Wolf-Peter
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Pakistan; diarrhea; hygiene; information