Strengthening Household Health Outcomes in Ethiopia: Comparative Insights From Social Protection and Broader Development Strategies

This study attempts to address the comparative and joint effects of factors like social protection and broader development initiatives on household health quality levels in Ethiopia. While some studies do stress their separate utility, evidence is missing on one versus the other kind, or synergistic impacts are uncommon. Based on five waves of Ethiopian Living Standards Measurement Study data from 2011 to 2021, a pseudo-panel consisting of 15,191 cohorts was constructed with cohorts defined by location, gender, and age groups. Using a panel beta regression model with a logit link and fixed year effects together with random strata effects based on age, marginal impacts were estimated. The findings show that intensifying social protection programmes raises household health quality by 8.41 percentage points, and in contrast, broader development programmes show a weak effect of 1.52, which, however, is statistically insignificant. In this case, the interaction exhibits an opposite effect of synergy, improving health by 12.83 percentage points. Other factors, such as food security, wealth, resilience, and access to electricity, also have notable positive links. The research hence stresses the importance of integrated policy approaches, which give actionable lessons for Ethiopian policymakers and global health development initiatives.