Drivers of nutritional change in four South Asian countries: a dynamic observational analysis.
This paper quantifies the factors explaining long-term improvements in child height for age z-scores in Bangladesh (1996/1997-2011), India (1992/1993-2005/2006), Nepal (1997-2011) and Pakistan (1991-2013). We apply the same statistical techniques to data from a common data source from which we have extracted a set of common explanatory variables that capture 'nutrition-sensitive' factors. Three are particularly important in explaining height for age z-score changes over these timeframes: improvements in material well-being; increases in female education; and improvements in sanitation. These factors have comparable associations across all four countries.
['Headey|Derek|D|', 'Hoddinott|John|J|', 'Park|Seollee|S|']
D001459:Bangladesh D001827:Body Height D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena D002675:Child, Preschool D004522:Educational Status D005260:Female D006306:Health Surveys D006801:Humans D007194:India D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D044342:Malnutrition D009390:Nepal D009752:Nutritional Status D010154:Pakistan D012499:Sanitation
chronic malnutrition economics constraints infant and child nutrition international child health nutrition low income countries socioeconomic factors