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Infant mortality and child nutrition in Bangladesh

Diane Dancer1, Anu Rammohan, Murray D Smith

  • 1Discipline of Econometrics and Business Statistics, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Health Economics
|July 19, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Excess female infant mortality in South Asia may not be due to discrimination. Surviving children, regardless of gender, show better nutrition, suggesting mortality and nutrition are linked. This study explores this complex relationship.

Area of Science:

  • Demography
  • Public Health
  • Development Economics

Background:

  • South Asian female infant mortality is high, often attributed to intra-household discrimination.
  • Existing child nutrition studies show no gender disparities, posing a paradox.
  • Child survival and nutrition may be interdependent, not independent variables.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate gender differences in infant survival probabilities in Bangladesh.
  • Examine the link between infant mortality and subsequent child nutrition outcomes.
  • Determine the dependence relationship between infant mortality and child nutrition using statistical modeling.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey.
  • Employed a copula approach to model the dependence between infant mortality and child nutrition.
  • Analyzed gender-specific survival probabilities and nutritional indicators (height-for-age Z-scores).

Main Results:

  • Male infants have a lower survival probability in their first year compared to females.
  • Surviving male children exhibit significantly better height-for-age Z-scores than females.
  • Household wealth and public health interventions (e.g., vaccinations) positively impact nutritional outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Infant mortality and child nutrition are significantly dependent variables, challenging previous assumptions.
  • Gender disparities in survival do not equate to gender disparities in nutrition among survivors.
  • Policy interventions focusing on household wealth and public health are crucial for improving child nutrition.

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