About a third of Filipino children are stunted or chronically malnourished. However, there is a paucity of evidence on the socioeconomic inequalities of stunting in the Philippines. This study has two objectives. First, we discuss the wide range of determinants that explain the large...

This policy note uses the most recent available data to outline the primary factors contributing to child stunting and malnutrition in Laos. The report draws on data from the baseline round of impact evaluation surveys conducted in 2020 as part of the Nutrition Convergence Projects. By applying...

In sub-Saharan Africa, child fostering-a widespread practice in which a child moves out of the household of her biological parents-can have significant implications for a child's overall well-being. Using longitudinal data from South Africa that includes individual tracking, we employ double...

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified existing structural challenges in Africa, including poverty, weak healthcare systems, and fragile agricultural supply chains. Consequently, examining its effects remains a critical area of study. This research investigates the effect of food prices on the...

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey data set and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015-16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

This study examines the effects of the urban productive safety net programme (uPSNP) on urban households' food insecurity (FIN) and children's school attendance in Tigray, Ethiopia. Data were collected from 333 urban households between August and September 2020. The FGT index was used to compute...

Over the past several years, North Korea has adopted legal changes that are increasing the centrality of the Workers Party of Korea and the state in agricultural production, distribution, and consumption. This development changes the basic nature of food insecurity in North Korea from one in...

This study is the first to establish a chronology of food crises in Germany from the sixteenth century to their disappearance in the late 1860s based on a standard methodology to detect cycles in commodity prices. To this end, we develop an aggregate rye price series, deflate it by a consumer...

In 2015, Southern Africa experienced a drought that affected approximately 30 million people across seven countries. Using a nationally representative household panel survey dataset and a remotely sensed measure of drought intensity during the 2015/16 farming season, we rigorously estimate the...

Rahman et al. (2021) study the correlation between mental health and food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. They report that food insecurity increases in the sample and that this is associated with increased stress. This result is not reproducible from the author-provided...

In the Philippines, children continue to face challenges in accessing healthy, sustainable diverse diets that provide sufficient nutrients for growth and development. This is especially critical given the importance of early developmental stages. The overall structure and functioning of the food...

Explanations for the West's escape from premature mortality have focused on chronic malnutrition or income and on public health or state capacity. We argue that by ignoring the multigenerational effects of variance in ancestors' harvests, we are underestimating the contribution of modern...

This report proposes a framework in tagging nutrition expenditures of national government agencies. The framework was developed through exhaustive literature review and validation sessions with government agencies. It comprised of five levels (5) of classification elements namely: major...

Armed conflict remains a significant global issue, with several studies highlighting its detrimental impact on the affected communities, making it a critical area of research. This study aimed to examine the effects of prolonged armed conflict on food security among urban households in Tigray,...

Can digital payments help reduce extreme hunger? Humanitarian needs are at their highest since 1945, aid budgets are falling behind, and hunger is concentrating in fragile states where repression and aid diversion present major obstacles. In such contexts, partnering directly with governments is...

We provide the first estimates of broad-based health transmission between parents and their young children in India. The correlations between maternal health and child health outcomes - such as anemia, stunting, and body mass index - are approximately 0.20. When aggregating these health measures...

We examine the relationship between food insecurity and urban social disorder, featuring the degree of inequality and levels of governmental repression. We develop a formal theoretical model, and our empirical results suggest that food price volatility contributes significantly to conflict...

At the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) campaign in 2015, stunting among under 5-year-olds remained a major challenge in South Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia lagging behind-a phenomenon known as the "Asian enigma." This paper revisits the issue, focusing on...

Background Currently, food price inflation is a widespread issue in Bangladesh as well as the rest of the world. Malnutrition is a common issue among children that can have long-lasting effects on their development and overall health. There have been lots of studies conducted to identify the...

National dietary guidelines serve as a strategic tool to facilitate dietary adjustments, improve human nutrition, and reduce environmental strain by guiding individuals toward healthier dietary choices. This study examines the evolution of Chinese Dietary Guidelines (CDG) and compares them with...

There is mounting evidence indicating that the aging process initiates during early life stages, with in utero the individual's environment playing a significant role. Consequently, it is crucial to understand the enduring effects of early life circumstances on health in old age. In this study,...

Despite substantial efforts to improve food and nutrient intake in the last decades, child undernutrition remains a daunting challenge, particularly in developing countries' rural areas. Today, frequent extreme weather events harm agricultural production, exacerbating the food shortage problem...

There is mounting evidence indicating that the aging process initiates during early life stages, with in utero the individual's environment playing a significant role. Consequently, it is crucial to comprehend the enduring effects of early life circumstances on health in old age. In this study,...

When traditional measures for material conditions are scarce or unreliable, body mass, height, and weight are complements to standard income and wealth measures. A persistent question in welfare studies is the 19th century's 2nd and 3rd quarter's stature diminution, a pattern known as the...

Hundreds of millions of Indian children are too short for their age. In this paper we explore whether early marriage of women in India contributes to this phenomenon. Using India's national health surveys and age at menarche as an instrument, we find that one year earlier mother's marriage...

Demographic crises and famines were recurring phenomena in China before the mid-20th century, with the Great Leap Forward Famine of 1959-61 often regarded as the last and one of the most severe in Chinese History. This article delves into the repercussions of the Great Flood of 1975 in Henan...

We study the influence of social norms in determining the impact of early life exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 on gender inequality. We model how social norms interact with adverse shocks to affect male and female survival chances and influence subsequent human capital...