On the determinants of nutrition in Mozambique: The importance of age-specific effects

Sahn, David E.; Alderman, Harold

doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(96)00118-0

Cited by 81 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Given that most children in the sample started attending the center only at age four or later, these results support findings elsewhere that children's height trajectories may already be established earlier in life (Howe et al, 2010), and hence respond only weakly to feeding programs in this age range (Grantham-McGregor, 2002). This finding appears consistent with the broader child development and nutrition literature, which generally views height as more of a "stock variable" reflecting cumulative caloric intake rather than measuring short-term nutritional inputs (Deolalikar, 1996;Sahn & Alderman, 1997). (1), (3) and (5) show unconditional group mean comparisons.…”

Section: Ece and Physical Developmentsupporting

confidence: 85%

Early Childhood Education, Child Development and School Readiness: Evidence from Zambia

Zuilkowski¹,

Fink

Moucheraud

et al. 2012

SAJCE

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While early childhood education has received increasing attention in the developing world in recent years, relatively little evidence is available from sub-Saharan Africa on its effects on child development and subsequent school enrolment. We use a prospective case-control design to evaluate the developmental impact of a community-based early childhood center in an urban area in Zambia. Comparing 40 children attending the center to 40 children not attending the center from the same community, we find that center attendance was associated with significantly better performance in an assessment of task orientation, and was also weakly associated with increased letter familiarity. We also observed higher performance among center students on tests of receptive language and pencil-related fine motor skills. These associations were, however, smaller and not statistically significant. We conducted a follow-up one year after the initial assessment, when children were seven years old and should have been in first grade. At follow-up, 27% of non-attendees were not yet enrolled in primary school, compared to just 11% of center students, suggesting that participation in early education encourages a timely transition into first grade.

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Section: Ece and Physical Developmentsupporting

confidence: 85%

Early Childhood Education, Child Development and School Readiness: Evidence from Zambia

Zuilkowski¹,

Fink

Moucheraud

et al. 2012

SAJCE

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“…The result, in many cases, is that the positive effect of mother's education still remains significantly different from zero (Strauss and Thomas 1995). There is also some empirical evidence of this relationship in Mozambique (Sahn and Alderman 1997;Garrett and Ruel 1999;Burchi 2010). In the studies conducted with 1996-1997 data, Sahn and Alderman (1997) and Garrett and Ruel (1999) concluded that the effect of mother's education is significant and independent from that of household income/wealth in the case of 0-2 year old children while non-significant for 2-5 year old children.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also some empirical evidence of this relationship in Mozambique (Sahn and Alderman 1997;Garrett and Ruel 1999;Burchi 2010). In the studies conducted with 1996-1997 data, Sahn and Alderman (1997) and Garrett and Ruel (1999) concluded that the effect of mother's education is significant and independent from that of household income/wealth in the case of 0-2 year old children while non-significant for 2-5 year old children. In the first study the result is also robust to the inclusion of mother's nutrition, while such a variable was not available in the second study.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though child HAZ and WAZ incorporate age and sex differentials, these variables can reflect gender-related and age-related influence of non-observed covariates on nutrition (Morales, Aguilar, and Calzadilla 2004). Many studies noticed that the anthropometry of younger children can be different from that of older children (Sahn and Alderman 1997). The age effect is analyzed with one dummy variable indicating whether the child is in the 25-60 month age group, as opposed to 0-24 months: this is because 24 months is a common breastfeeding duration in Africa.…”

Section: Explanatory Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Whose education affects a child’s nutritional status? From parents' to household's education

Burchi¹

2012

DemRes

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BACKGROUNDThe paper engages in the ongoing debate regarding the determinants of child nutrition in developing countries and stresses the potential contribution of the education of household members other than the child's parents. OBJECTIVEThe aim of the paper is threefold: (1) to verify whether there is evidence of the key role of parents' education for children's nutrition; (2) to explore the possible presence of the externalities generated by the literacy of household members different from the child's parents; (3) to test whether there is difference in the influence of these variables on the two indicators of child nutrition, child height-for-age and weight-for-age. METHODSThe determinants of child nutrition were analyzed by estimating a series of econometric models through OLS regressions applied on data from the 2003 DHS survey in Mozambique. By means of seemingly unrelated regression together with formal testing we compared the impact of the covariates on the two outcomes. RESULTSIn line with previous studies, we find that one year of mother's education increases their children's height-for-age and weight-for-age z-scores by nearly 0.025 and 0.015. The presence of another literate household member has a significant, though limited, effect on child height while it has no influence on child weight. Lastly, there is no statistically significant difference in the effect of parents' education on the two indicators while our measure of proximate literacy has a significantly larger impact on child height. CONCLUSIONSThese findings should orient policy-makers toward income-augmenting and educationenhancing policies: the importance of non-parents' literacy opens a further space for investment in education.

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“…High food prices harm the health of both children and adults. Sahn and Alderman (1997) have examined the impact of income on the height of children older than two from Mozambique.…”

Section: Overview and Framework For Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The growth of poor children in China 1991–2000: why food subsidies may matter

Osberg

Shao

2009

Health Economics

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How did rapid growth in per capita income and rising income inequality during 1991–2000 in China affect the health status of Chinese children, given that the disappearance in the 1990s of subsidized food coupons simultaneously increased the importance of money income in enabling consumption of basic foods by poor families? Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data for 1991, 1993, 1997, and 2000 on 4400 households in nine provinces, we examine the height‐for‐age of Chinese children aged 2–13, with particular emphasis on the growth of children living in poor households. We use mean regression and quantile regression models to isolate the dynamic impact of poverty status and food coupon use on child height‐for‐age. Our principal findings are: (i) controlling for standard variables (e.g. parents' weight, height, and education) poverty is correlated with slower growth in height‐for‐age between 1997 and 2000 but not earlier; (ii) in 2000, poverty is negatively correlated with strong growth in height‐for‐age; and (iii) food coupon use in earlier periods correlates positively with growth in height‐for‐age. The general moral is the crucial social protection role that subsidized food programmes can potentially play in maintaining the health of poor children. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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On the determinants of nutrition in Mozambique: The importance of age-specific effects

Cited by 81 publications

References 20 publications

Early Childhood Education, Child Development and School Readiness: Evidence from Zambia

Early Childhood Education, Child Development and School Readiness: Evidence from Zambia

Whose education affects a child’s nutritional status? From parents' to household's education

The growth of poor children in China 1991–2000: why food subsidies may matter

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