The household production of health: integrating social science perspectives on micro-level health determinants

Abstract

Efforts to control disease and improve health in developing countries require increasing collaboration between social and medical scientists. This collaboration should extend from the early stages of technology development to the evaluation and improvement of population-wide interventions. This paper provides an integrating framework for social science research on health producing processes at the household level, drawing on recent work in economics, anthropology, and public health. Further development of theory and methods in this area would benefit from interdisciplinary research in categories as defined by social and behavioral science in addition to those related to specific diseases and intervention programs.