Peer-reviewed article
Racial Diversity, Child Stunting and Underweight: Policies Design and Promotion in South Africa
Isaac Koomson, Clifford Afoakwah, Martinson Ankrah Twumasi ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5This study looks at whether living in racially diverse areas affects child stunting and underweight in South Africa after apartheid. Using national survey data collected over several years, the researchers found that children in more racially diverse areas had lower rates of stunting and underweight. This effect was strongest for children under five years old. The study suggests this happens because racial diversity is linked to more jobs, higher household spending on food, and better access to financial services.
Key points
- Racial diversity significantly reduces child stunting and underweight in South Africa.
- The effect is more pronounced among children under 5 years of age.
- Increased employment opportunities are one channel linking diversity to better child nutrition outcomes.
- Higher food expenditure per capita is another linking channel.
- Greater financial inclusion also helps explain the relationship.
Limitations
The study relies on statistical methods to infer causation from observational data, so despite correction techniques, unmeasured factors could still influence the results; findings are specific to South Africa's post-apartheid context and may not generalize elsewhere.
Abstract
We examine the effect of racial diversity on child stunting and underweight in post-apartheid South Africa, which has a strong history of systemic racial segregation. Using five waves of longitudinal data from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS), and employing instrumental variable and propensity score matching methods, we find that racial diversity significantly reduces child stunting and underweight. This result is consistent across alternative measures of racial diversity, child stunting and underweight, and is also robust to different endogeneity-correction methods. The negative effect of racial diversity on child stunting and underweight is more pronounced among children under 5 years of age. Further analyses highlight increased employment opportunities, food expenditure per capita and financial inclusion as important channels through which racial diversity decreases stunting and underweight. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.