Discrimination or misperception

In many developing countries, health issues remain a critical barrier to economic growth. Among the most prevalent of these issues is anemia, which affects approximately 30% of women globally, with over half of the cases occurring in developing nations. Anemia not only harms individual health but also diminishes labor productivity, thus hindering economic development. However, anemia can often be alleviated through low-cost supplements, meaning that the usual problem of liquidity constraints in developing countries may not significantly hinder treatment. Despite this, anemia continues to be a widespread and unresolved issue.

Several factors contribute to the persistence of anemia. For instance, inadequate diagnostic accuracy by healthcare providers and the "psychological sunk cost" effect—where individuals assume that higher-priced treatments are inherently more effective—have been identified as barriers (Banerjee and Duflo, 2012). Furthermore, there may be a gender gap in how health information is received and acted upon. Public health initiatives in developing countries frequently rely on community health workers to disseminate health advice. However, if gender bias influences the decision to accept health guidance, there is a risk that information provided by female health workers will be undervalued compared to that from male workers. This dynamic could reduce the overall efficiency of health interventions. In fact, gender gaps in information diffusion have been observed in fields like agriculture and business, suggesting similar trends may exist in healthcare.

The causes of such gender gaps are multifaceted. Discriminatory attitudes toward women could be a contributing factor, but another possibility is the systematic underestimation of women's competencies. Notably, Tsugawa et al. (2017) found that female physicians may provide higher-quality care than their male counterparts, indicating that the undervaluation of female health workers could be based on misperceptions rather than actual differences in ability. If these misperceptions are indeed driving the gender gap, targeted efforts to correct them through information campaigns could significantly improve the acceptance of health interventions led by women.

The aim of this study is to investigate the existence and extent of gender gaps in healthcare delivery in developing countries and to identify the underlying causes. If these causes are rooted in misperceptions, providing accurate information could offer a viable pathway to reducing the gender gap and enhancing the effectiveness of public health efforts.