Rokhy pouye, Ndiack Fall, Mamadou Abdoulaye Diallo, and Juliette Tegawendé Nana
Access to care and child health remain public health concerns in developing countries; in particular in Senegal despite the free child care initiative. Therefore, this article examines the effect of free care on child undernutrition and social inequalities in health care utilization. The data used are from the Continuous Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS-C). The triradiate model and the inequality index decomposition method proposed by Wagstaff et al [2003] are used respectively to analyze the effect of the free health care policy on undernutrition and social inequalities in health care utilization. The results underline that the free health care policy improves the nutritional status of children. In addition, it increases social inequalities in the use of health care in favor of the rich and contributes to horizontal inequalities to the tune of 7.56 %. It is therefore necessary to review and monitor this policy within the health structures in order to correct its regressive nature. Moreover, a combination of policies of access to care and fight against undernutrition is essential for a better result in terms of child health.