The Impact of Adult Deaths on Children's Health in Northwestern Tanzania

Abstract

T'he AIDS epidemic is dramatically increasing mortality measles, oral rehydration salts, and access to health cate of adults in many Sub-Saharan African countries, with can do to nmitigate the impact of adu]t mor tality. potentially severe consequences for surviving family These programs disproportionately improve health members. Until now, most of these impacts had not been outcomes among the poorest children and, within that quantified.group, among children affected by adult mortality. Ainsworth and Semali examine the impact of adultIn Tanzania there is so much poverty and child health mortaLity in Tanzania on three measures of health amrong indicators are so low that these interventions should be chiidren under five: morbidity, height for age, and targeted as much as possible to the poorest households, weight for height. The children hit hardest by the death whlere the children bit hardest by adult mortality are of a parent or other adult are those in the poorest most likely to be found. (Conceivably, the targeting households, those with uneducated parents, and those strategy for middle-income countries with severe AIDS with the least access to health care.ep.demics, such as Thailand, or countries with less Ainsworth and Semali also show how much three poverty and better child health indicators might be important health interventionsimmunization against different.

Reducing Child Malnutrition in Tanzania - Combined Effects of Income Growth and Program Interventions

“…The primary objective of this Kagera Health and Development Survey (KHDS) was to estimate the economic impact of the death of prime-age adults on surviving household members. Thus, the research focused on the collection of detailed socioeconomic information from individuals who resided in a household in which one or more adult family members indicated they were in poor health at the time of the baseline (Ainsworth and Semali, 2001). …”

“…2 Individuals belonging to the same household were defined as a group of people living and sharing meals together for at least 3 months in the last year (Ainsworth and Semali 2001). This survey collects information that makes it particularly appropriate for the purpose of our research, in particular the extensive information on household income and consumption and on individual's health status and anthropometrics.…”

“…Out of the original sample, 6 percent of households dropped before their first interview. Out of the remaining sample of households, 10 percent dropped out of the remaining sample before the end of the survey (Ainsworth and Semali, 2001). The attrition rate compares favorably to other panel datasets.…”

Outcomes of Orphanhood in Ethiopia: A Mixed Methods Study

“…Some have emphasised the high potential for radical change North-western Tanzania Orphans more likely to be stunted than non-orphans, reflecting their location in the poorest households with lower access to education and healthcare. However, maternal orphans had poorer nutritional status than paternal orphans, regardless of the household's socio-economic status Ainsworth and Semali (2000) 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, not Ethiopia (DHS data from 1990s) Great diversity across countries; differences in outcomes for orphans likely to be related to household socio-economic status; gender differences no more acute than among non-orphans Ainsworth and Filmer (2002) Western Kenya (1,190 aged \ 6 years, 7.9% orphaned) No differences between orphans and non-orphans in health indicators such as prevalence of fever, however, weight and height for age were 0.3 standard deviations lower than non-orphans, especially for children who were paternal orphans or had lost a parent more than one year ago Lindblade et al (2003) Sub-Saharan Africa (10 countries) Reduced school attendance, especially when orphan is not biologically related to the caregiver Case et al (2004) Ethiopia (DHS 2000) Double orphans and paternal orphans significantly less likely to be enrolled in school than non-orphans (not significant for maternal orphans), even after controlling for location, socio-economic status, etc…”

“…For example, Kadilyala et al (2009) report lower levels of stunting among double orphans than non-orphans. There is also differentiation in outcomes according to the type of orphanhood with poorer outcomes reported for maternal orphans in Tanzania (Ainsworth and Semali 2000;Beegle et al 2007;Baaroy and Webb 2008), Kenya (Evans and Miguel 2007), and Ethiopia (Bhargava 2005;Himaz 2009). Female orphans experience poorer outcomes in SubSaharan Africa as a whole (Case et al 2004), Tanzania (Baaroy and Webb 2008), Uganda (Yamano et al 2006), and Ethiopia (Bhargava 2005).…”