Peer-reviewed article
Trends and geographic variability in gender inequalities in child mortality and stunting in India, 2006–2016
Harold Alderman, Phuong Hong Nguyen, Lan Mai Tran, Purnima Menon ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This study used two nationally representative datasets from India to compare mortality and stunting between boys and girls under 5 years old in 2006 and 2016. Both boys and girls saw large improvements over the decade. Girls had a higher risk of death between ages 1 and 5 in 2006, but this gap was gone by 2016. Girls had lower stunting than boys in 2016, though trends differed by birth order and by state. The authors conclude that policy efforts should continue in states that have progressed and speed up where disparities remain.
Key points
- Child mortality and stunting fell strikingly between 2006 and 2016 for both boys and girls.
- Boys were more likely to die than girls during the first year of life.
- Girls had higher mortality than boys between ages 1 and 5 in 2006, but this gender gap was eliminated in 2016.
- There was no gender difference in stunting in 2006, but in 2016 girls had higher height-for-age Z-scores and lower stunting than boys.
- Trends in gender gaps varied substantially by birth order and between states.
Limitations
Only the abstract is available, so details on methods, sample sizes, effect sizes and state-level results are not given. The study describes trends and does not evaluate an intervention or explain the causes of the changes.
Abstract
Abstract Gender disparities in child undernutrition and mortality in India have been a topic of interest for a long time, but little is known on trends or geographic variability in recent periods. We examined the degree to which historic patterns in gender disparities in child undernutrition and mortality in India have persisted given recent progress in health and nutrition. Using two nationally representative datasets from India between 2006 and 2016, we estimated mortality rates and stunting by gender and by birth order among children under 5 years old. We then tested for differences between boys and girls within each survey round for both national and state levels using bootstrapped standard errors, controlling for cluster and sampling weights. We found striking progress in child mortality and stunting in India between 2006 and 2016 for both boys and girls. Boys were more likely to die than girls during the first year of life. Girls had a higher risk of mortality between age 1 and 5 years than boys in 2006, but the improvements in survival eliminated this gender gap in 2016. For stunting, we found no gender difference in 2006, but girls had higher height‐for‐age Z ‐scores (HAZ) and lower stunting than boys in 2016. Trends in gender gaps in mortality and stunting vary substantially by birth order and between states. Our findings indicate that improvements in mortality and nutritional status among girls have started to close gender disparities. Policy efforts to close gaps must stay the course in states that have made progress and be accelerated in states where disparities are still prominent.