摘要：AbstractSocial networks are increasingly being recognised as having an important influence on health and health care use, as they facilitate the exchange of information on health care related issues. In this paper, we examine the impact of information externalities generated through network membership on antenatal care utilisation in Tanzania. A new approach for quantifying the size of one's network and an econometric approach that minimises the problems of omitted variable bias are adopted. Using the Demographic and Health Survey data for Tanzania, a country characterised by low levels of maternal health care utilisation, we find that social networks increase the probability of early antenatal check-up and antenatal completion. The results suggest that failure to adequately control for omitted variables would lead to substantial underestimation of the network effect. We show that irrespective of the measure for the size of the networks, women in high quality networks have better utilisation outcomes than those in low quality networks. The poor and disadvantaged communities rely on informal sources of information. Thus, sensitising such individuals is a potential way of increasing awareness and assuring full utilisation.
