Impact of Multidimensional Poverty on Immunization: Evidence from Pakistan

The association between health and poverty is well well-known concept, but poverty extends beyond income and encompasses multiple dimensions. Good health is not always attributed to wealth, but many other factors contribute to maintaining good health and life expectancy. Objective: To investigate the association between multidimensional poverty and immunization. Methods: Using the data of the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (2017-18), the study focuses on three dimensions of poverty (income, education, and living standard) and adopts immunization as a health variable. The study examines, with the help of descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression that how the health variable is associated with multidimensional poverty measures. The effective curves are used to identify which dimensions of poverty are more effective in predicting the association of poverty with poor health. Additionally, the study applies the dual cut-off method to identify the proportion of population in poverty. Results: The results of the study demonstrate that composite measures of multiple poverty dimensions are more effective predictors to identify individuals in poor health than a unidimensional poverty measure such as income. Individuals experiencing multiple dimensions of poverty face more health issues as compared to those who are poor in just a single dimension. Conclusions: The study confirms the importance and relevance of multidimensional poverty for health and suggests focusing on multiple aspects of poverty rather than considering a single dimension. Encouraging collaboration among health, education and social welfare departments can be helpful to address poverty and improve health holistically.