Health care services and assignative efficiency in Argentina

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship among economic conditions, education, mother and child health and health care services in Argentina. It also discusses if the greater or lesser presence of health care services structures (doctors, beds and centers with and without hospitalization) somehow is related to maternal mortality rate and under-five mortality rate. The outcomes do not show a significant correlation between these and mortality rates, whether infant or maternal. Infant mortality strongly refers to the mother’s education and unmet basic needs, and mortality rates are not related to the presence of health care centers, whether with or without hospitalization. Mortality rates are not related to the amount of doctors and beds per inhabitant either. It seems, then, that statistics, as they are currently gathered without differentiating between health care models, do not allow for definite conclusions referred to the relationship between health services and infant mortality.