Climatic conditions and child height: Sex-specific vulnerability and the protective effects of sanitation and food markets in Nepal

Mulmi, Prajula; Shively, Gerald; Masters, William A.

doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2016.07.002

Cited by 53 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Further work such as [69] would be needed to distinguish among the possible causal mechanisms involved, for example to distinguish between the role of private markets and the use of public services, and to identify the role of particular aspects of seasonal variation in dietary intake or disease burdens. Incorporating data on the amenities available in different towns would help distinguish which ones contribute most to nutrition smoothing in surrounding areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition Smoothing: Can Proximity to Towns and Cities Protect Rural Children against Seasonal Variation in Agroclimatic Conditions at Birth?

Darrouzet-Nardi

Masters

2017

PLoS ONE

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A large literature links early-life environmental shocks to later outcomes. This paper uses seasonal variation across the Democratic Republic of the Congo to test for nutrition smoothing, defined here as attaining similar height, weight and mortality outcomes despite different agroclimatic conditions at birth. We find that gaps between siblings and neighbors born at different times of year are larger in more remote rural areas, farther from the equator where there are greater seasonal differences in rainfall and temperature. For those born at adverse times in places with pronounced seasonality, the gains associated with above-median proximity to nearby towns are similar to rising one quintile in the national distribution of household wealth for mortality, and two quintiles for attained height. Smoothing of outcomes could involve a variety of mechanisms to be addressed in future work, including access to food markets, health services, public assistance and temporary migration to achieve more uniform dietary intake, or less exposure and improved recovery from seasonal diseases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition Smoothing: Can Proximity to Towns and Cities Protect Rural Children against Seasonal Variation in Agroclimatic Conditions at Birth?

Darrouzet-Nardi

Masters

2017

PLoS ONE

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“…They found similar results for rural-urban differences in child dietary diversity. An implication of these results is that physical remoteness seems to primarily influence nutrition through its harmful impacts on multidimensional poverty, including vulnerability to shocks (Mulmi et al, 2016).…”

Section: Agriculture Rural Livelihoods and Nutritionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Agriculture for nutrition: direct and indirect effects.

Headey¹,

Masters²

2019

Agriculture for Improved Nutrition: Seizing the Momentum

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This chapter describes three main channels through which changing agriculture can affect nutrition: (1) the level and stability of real income and purchasing power among poor people; (2) the relative cost and difficulty of acquiring more nutritious foods relative to other things; and (3) exposure to health hazards associated with agricultural production, including various pathogens but also other harmful agricultural practices. Within each channel, the chapter highlights recent research findings that have strong implications for the way in which agriculture can be redesigned to improve nutrition.

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“…Although higher level factors alone are insufficient for understanding patterns of individual child growth, they provide complementary and confirmatory evidence that investments in market and health infrastructure pay dividends over time. Previous work from Nepal suggests a positive relationship between household welfare and investments in irrigation, agricultural extension, and rural roads (47), as well as sanitation (48). Roads and bridges, for example, improve market performance, reducing both the level and variability of food prices (49).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrastructure mitigates the sensitivity of child growth to local agriculture and rainfall in Nepal and Uganda

Shively

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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This paper investigates linear growth and weight gain among 11,946 children below the age of 5 y in Nepal and Uganda, testing the hypothesis that child growth is sensitive to precipitation during key periods in a child's early life. The paper also tests the importance of the economic and physical environments in which children reside. Outcomes are not completely explained by agricultural performance or the observed characteristics of children or their households. Associations between height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and weight-for-height z-score (WHZ) and rainfall are generally positive, but patterns are heterogeneous. At the mean, an increase of 1 SD in agricultural season rainfall is associated with a 0.05-to 0.25-point higher z-score, which translates into increases of roughly 4-13% for HAZ and 1-7% for WHZ. Nutrition sensitivity to rainfall is greater in Nepal, where rainfall is lower on average and wider ranging, than in Uganda. Health and transport infrastructure help to buffer children from the deleterious nutritional effects of precipitation shortfalls, underscoring the role of broadly based economic development in promoting child nutrition.agriculture | environment | infrastructure | nutrition | precipitation P ersistent malnutrition among young children severely hinders physical and cognitive development (1) and increases the risk and severity of illness, further deepening malnutrition (2). In recognition of the overall importance of child nutrition to a country's development prospects, finding ways to improve nutrition has been labeled a "quintessential sustainable development goal" (3). Evidence-based policy making in pursuit of this goal requires a better understanding of the mechanisms leading to nutrition improvements. Isolating and clearly identifying causal pathways is an empirical challenge, however, because many potential determinants of child health and nutrition are hidden or covary. In this paper, I confront this challenge by combining a wide range of observed data, including precipitation data, to study patterns of linear growth [height-for-age z-score (HAZ)] and wasting [weight-for-height z-score (WHZ)] among children below the age of 5 y (U5s) in Nepal and Uganda. I measure the magnitude and strength of correlations between anthropometric measurements and precipitation at key stages of early life, taking particular care to distinguish clearly between variation in precipitation within locations and variations between locations. I also control for agricultural performance and market and health infrastructure, and test whether these factors are correlated with growth.

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Climatic conditions and child height: Sex-specific vulnerability and the protective effects of sanitation and food markets in Nepal

Cited by 53 publications

References 54 publications

Nutrition Smoothing: Can Proximity to Towns and Cities Protect Rural Children against Seasonal Variation in Agroclimatic Conditions at Birth?

Nutrition Smoothing: Can Proximity to Towns and Cities Protect Rural Children against Seasonal Variation in Agroclimatic Conditions at Birth?

Agriculture for nutrition: direct and indirect effects.

Infrastructure mitigates the sensitivity of child growth to local agriculture and rainfall in Nepal and Uganda

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