How do Women Learn They Are Pregnant? The Introduction of Clinics and Pregnancy Uncertainty in Nepal

Isabel Musse, Rebecca L. Thornton, Dirgha J. Ghimire

Research output: Working paper

Abstract

Woman’s knowledge about her pregnancy state is an important input to decrease maternal mortality and improve the conditions in-utero for the child. This paper explores the effect of the distance to a health clinic on pregnancy knowledge. Using a seven-year, individual level monthly panel dataset in Nepal, I find that living closer to a clinic that offers pregnancy tests decreases in 1.3 percentage points the proportion of women who do not know they are pregnant, from a base of 3.47%. I argue that the results are driven by the provision of the technology of pregnancy testing. Women’s experience with previous pregnancies also contributes to reduce the false negatives.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Number of pages24
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 30 2017

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