Abstract
Infant and child mortality in Bangladesh has declined in recent years but early death rates remain high among Bangladesh’s urban poor, even in comparison to rates in rural Bangladesh. Although they live close to the country’s leading public hospitals and private health clinics, the urban poor continue to rely heavily on services and advice provided by the informal health sector. This paper examines the use of the informal health sector by urban poor children’s main caregivers, their mothers, and the key role performed by pharmacists in treating these children. It explores the nature of the relationship between the mothers and the health providers and the implications for the broader health system. The study combines in-depth interviews with survey data.
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Notes
These may charge a nominal one-time membership fee for patients if affordable.
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Acknowledgments
The research on which this study was based was funded by the Australian Research Council. The Chief Investigators for the project were Professors Terence H. Hull and John C. Caldwell.
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Caldwell, B.K., Rashid, S.F. & Murthy, S. The informal health sector and health care-seeking behaviour of mothers in urban Dhaka slums. J Pop Research 31, 111–129 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-014-9127-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-014-9127-3