Food Accessibility and Infant Birth Weight in Kenya: Identifying vulnerable women before and during pregnancy

The weight of a baby at birth has important impacts for his future development. When babies are born weighing less than 2500 grams, the international standard for low birth weight (LBW), their mortality rates are higher than those of their normal birthweight counterparts (Walker et al. 2007). If an LBW baby does survive, his future is much grimmer than that of a normal birth weight baby. Educational rates and income levels are lower among children who are born with LBW and if a mother was herself characterized as LBW then she is more likely to produce LBW children (especially girls) (Victora et al. 2008). LBW babies are therefore less likely to grow into healthy and economically productive members of society. Clearly these negative health outcomes have dire implications for the health and wellbeing of future generations and provide compelling evidence in support of the continued effort to reduce the incidence of LBW.