This essay explores whether there is a connection between geographical location and degree of socioeconomic inequity in children’s health status in Zambia. It looks at, to what extent a difference can be seen in the socioeconomic health gap between rural and urban areas and between primarily rural administrative provinces and primarily urban ones. The questions examined here are: 1) Does geographical location have an effect on socioeconomically caused differences in children’s health status? And 2) given that there is a pattern to be found, what does it look like?
The above questions will be examined using data from the Zambian government’s 2004
Living Conditions Monitoring Survey; the data is analysed with the help of concentration curves and concentration indices. The chosen health indicator for this study is presence of stunting among children and socioeconomic status is measured by household consumption.
The results indicate that there is a greater degree of pro-rich inequity in urban, compared to in rural, areas. The results are stronger when each child is divided individually, according to rural or urban domicile, than when the division is made by identifying whether the child lives in a predominantly urban or a predominately rural administrative province. However, while the results are less clear when the data is divided into administrative provinces, the difference still exists. Policymakers in the urban areas of Zambia need to be aware that socioeconomic inequity in children’s health status is a particularly large problem there. The results found in this essay suggest that specific urban policy measures might be needed.