Determinants of maternal health care choice for children with pneumonia: evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

This study aims to examine the determinants of maternal healthcare choice for children under five years old with pneumonia in Vietnam. The choices include taking their children to the hospitals, staying at home and using self-medication, or choosing traditional method by consulting a traditionalist or a spiritualist. We use the multinomial logit model to study a collection of 215 observations from onsite surveys, including different groups of ethnic minorities. The results indicate that ethnicity, residence, education and income level determine the mothers’ care seeking behaviors for children with pneumonia. The findings are expected to provide better insights into the behavior of the ethnic minority mothers when dealing with pneumonia and help the Vietnamese authorities alleviate this recurring disease.