Farm based household health status and income : Evidence from Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

This aim of the thesis is to answer research questions such as: Is there a relationship between the number of days lost to sickness by farmers and percapita crop income? Does access to clean/safe drinking water affect household percapita crop income? Does information on water preparation have an effect on percapita crop incomes of farmers? The thesis utilizes Instrumental Variables Methods (IV) using household survey data to analyze the effect of farmers’ health status on percapita crop income in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. The model results showed that the number of days spent sick is an endogenous variable which de-pends on the distance to the health center, access to clean water and information on water preparation and the tests confirmed that the instruments were very strong. The paper concludes that investment in health care system by increasing access to medical facilities and ensuring that households have access to clean water will go in the direction of reducing the number of days spent sick which again, affects percapita crop income positively.