Is Maternal Health Care Utilization Necessary for Child Health Outcomes in Tanzania? An Instrumental Variable Approach

Enhanced mother's health leads to an improved child's health, if timely and proper healthcare is not delivered, the health of mothers and born children is at risk. Tanzania is making great efforts to address maternal and child health to meet the fourth (4) and fifth (5) Millennium Development Goals. Up to date few studies on maternal health have been conducted in Tanzania but they paid less attention to the effects of maternal health care utilization on child health outcomes. As a result, it is not well known how Tanzanian mother's healthcare consumption affects the health of their newborn children. This study aimed to examine factors influencing maternal healthcare care utilization and its impact on child health outcomes in Tanzania. Using Tanzania Demographic Health Survey data of 2022, the study employed a double hurdle model and two-stage least square model to analyze the determinants and extents of maternal healthcare utilization and the effects of maternal healthcare utilization on child health outcomes. The analysis revealed that socioeconomic factors, such as residence, household size, employment, and education, play pivotal roles in shaping both the decision to seek care and the extent of service utilization. Additionally, in the analysis of the effects of maternal health care utilization on influencing child health outcomes in Tanzania, maternal health emerges as a dominant force, with better maternal health strongly linked to higher birth weights, positive association between the number of children and birth weight, as well as the influence of place of residence, suggests that socio-economic circumstances play a crucial role in maternal and child health outcome. These findings emphasize the need for employing comprehensive approaches to improve maternal health care and child health in Tanzania, addressing not only healthcare access and utilization but also broader socio-economic determinants.