Malnutrition, subsequent Risk of Mortality and Civil War in Burundi

نویسنده

  • Philip Verwimp
چکیده

The paper investigates the effect of child malnutrition on the risk of mortality in Burundi, a very poor country heavily affected by civil war. We use anthropometric data from a longitudinal survey (1998-2007). We find that undernourished children, as measured by the height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) in 1998 had a higher probability to die during subsequent years. In order to address the problem of omitted variables correlated with both nutritional status and the risk of mortality, we use the length of exposure to civil war prior to 1998 as a source of exogenous variation in a child’s nutritional status. Children exposed to civil war in their area of residence have worse nutritional status. The paper finds that one year of exposure translates into a 0.15 decrease in the HAZ, resulting in a 10% increase in the probability to die for the whole sample as well as a 0.34 decrease in HAZ per year of exposure for boys only, resulting in 25% increase in the probability to die. We show the robustness of our results. Food and income transfer programs during civil war should be put in place to avoid the longterm effects of malnutrition.

برای دانلود رایگان متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Civil War and Economic Sanctions: An Analysis of Anthropometric Outcomes in Burundi

This paper investigates the impact of the latest civil war and the subsequent economic embargo in Burundi on the health status of the Burundese children. We find that the civil war and the economic embargo had a particularly detrimental impact on the nutritional status of rural populations, due to a direct effect of the civil war and to the soaring of food prices during the embargo. A rural Bur...

متن کامل

A Phoenix in Flames? Portfolio Choice and Violence in Civil War in Rural Burundi

This paper challenges the idea that farmers revert to subsistence farming when confronted with violence from civil war. While there is an emerging macroeconomic consensus that wars are detrimental to development, we find contrasting microeconomic evidence. Using several rounds of (panel) data at the farm and community level, we find that farmers in Burundi who are confronted with civil war viol...

متن کامل

Portfolio Choice and Violence in Civil War in Rural Burundi

This paper challenges the idea that farmers revert to subsistence farming when confronted with violence from civil war. Macro-economic evidence on economic legacies of civil war suggests that civil wars, while obviously disastrous in the short run, do not need to have persistent effects on long term economic outcomes. New micro-level studies are ambiguous about the impact of civil war for welfa...

متن کامل

Estimating Poverty in Burundi

In this paper, we evaluate absolute consumption poverty and inequality in rural and urban Burundi after more than 5 years of civil war. Using the cost of basic needs method, we find a poverty incidence of 71.5% in rural areas and 36.5% in Bujumbura, and a Gini-coefficient of inequality of respectively 34.9 and 44.5%. In analysing the main correlates and determinants of rural poverty, we identif...

متن کامل

Civil War and the Welfare of Extended Households: Evidence from Longitudinal Data from Burundi

We analyse the effect of violence and rebellion on the evolution of household welfare. We collected new panel data for Burundi (1999-2007) in which we reinterviewed original as well as newly formed households (split-offs). We use several definitions of the household as unit of analysis and test for resource pooling between parental and split-off households. Focusing on the effect of civil war, ...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2011