Revisiting the Impact of a Reproductive Health Intervention on Children’s Height-for-Age with Evidence from Rural Bangladesh

This article evaluates the impact of a reproductive health program on the nutritional status of children under the age of 10 in rural Bangladesh. The program was administered in a treatment area while retaining an equally impoverished area as control through a doorstep delivery, allowing us to estimate treatment effects without problems of endogenous program placement and self-selected participation. A reduced-form demand approach has been applied using Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Survey of 1996 data to estimate program effects, returns to mother’s education, the joint effect of the program and household characteristics, as well as gender differences in nutritional outcomes. Results indicate that the program significantly improves the health of boys and girls in the treatment area. Mother’s education has a positive impact on child's health, more so for girls than boys. The program is a substitute for maternal education in improving boys’ health, whereas it is a complement to household wealth in improving girls’ nutritional status.