Asia-Pacific Population Journal - Volume 26, Issue 1, 2013

This paper investigates the demographic and socio-economic correlates of utilization of integrated child development services (ICDS) among children. Using data from the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005- 2006), an attempt has been made to find out differences in the level of utilization according to social class and household economic conditions. This paper found that the utilization was far from satisfactory cutting across social class, household economic status and other attributes. The article presents findings that could help evolve new strategies to improve the utilization of ICDS services, and potentially reduce persistent undernutrition in India.

There has been a dramatic increase in interprovincial migration in China because of regional economic disparities. Interprovincial migration has contributed to population redistribution and economic development, however, limited data are available to examine whether the health status of interprovincial migrants differs from that of intraprovincial migrants. Data from 1,842 rural-to-urban temporary migrants aged 18-30 years were analyzed to examine the differences in health status (measured by self-rated health, physical problems, depression), and health-seeking behaviour between these two types of internal migrants. It was found that interprovincial migrants were more likely to report depression symptoms and were less likely to seek formal health-care services than intraprovincial migrants. The findings indicate that specific attention should be given to health promotion and health-care access of interprovincial rural-to-urban migrants.

This paper examines economic deprivations among elderly and non-elderly households in India, using data from the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-2006). Economic deprivation is measured with respect to the asset poor, derived from a set of economic proxies, such as housing quality, household amenities, land ownership and consumer durables, using the principal component analysis. Results show that the poverty level among older persons living in nuclear households was very high compared with that among older persons living in non-nuclear households or households without any elderly. This paper therefore suggests an analysis of the poverty data by integrating the type of households and living arrangements for the elderly to ensure evidence-based policies and programmes. It also suggests that all elderly living in nuclear households with little or no education be included in existing social pension systems and incentives be provided to promote co-residence among older persons.

This paper evaluates the level and determinants of consistency in reporting contraception among couples using the couple dataset (N=2249) of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). This paper reveals that 76.5 per cent of couples in Bangladesh consistently reported contraception. Significant community effect was found in the data, which means that couples from different communities having similar characteristics will show different levels of consistency in reporting contraception. This paper recommends that DHS enhance the quality of questionnaires in order to improve the level of consistency in reporting contraception use. Programmes should emphasize effective communication within couples. Likewise, communicating family planning messages in the mass media should be further strengthened.