Climate Variability and Child Nutrition: Findings from Sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT: Climatic variability affects many underlying determinants of child malnutrition, including food availability, access, and utilization. Evidence of the effects of changing temperatures and precipitation on children's nutritional status nonetheless remains limited. Research addressing this knowledge gap is merited given the short- and long-run consequences of malnutrition. We address this issue by estimating the effects of temperature and precipitation anomalies on the weight and wasting status of children ages 0-59 months across 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Linear regression models show that high temperatures and low precipitation are associated with reductions in child weight, and that high temperatures also lead to increased risk of wasting. We find little evidence of substantively

SUBMITTER: Thiede BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8594912 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature