Child Health and the 1988-92Economic Crisis in Peru

Paxson, Christina ; Schady, Norbert

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES;    ACCESS TO SERVICES;    ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS;    ADULT MORTALITY;    AGED;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3260
RP-ID  :  WPS3260

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The effect of economic crises on childhealth is a topic of great policy importance.The authorsuse data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) toanalyze the impact of the profound 1988-92 economic crisisin Peru on infant mortality and anthropometrics.They showthat there was an increase in the infant mortality rate ofabout 2.5 percentage points for children born in late 1989and 1990, implying that about 17,000 more children died thanwould have in the absence of the crisis. The authors alsopresent suggestive evidence that the crisis affectedchildren's nutritional status.In 1992 children underthe age of 6 who had been exposed to the crisis were shorterthan same-aged children in 1996 and 2000.The authors donot have data on child height prior to the crisis, but theage profile of changes in nutritional status and the factthat the 1996 and 2000 height-for-age schedules are verysimilar to each other both suggest that the 1992 valuesrepresent declines from previous levels.Accounting for theprecise source of the increase in infant mortality and inmalnutrition is difficult, but it appears that both thedecrease in household incomes and the collapse inexpenditures on public health played an important role.