Peer-reviewed article
The Effects of Household Shocks on Child Nutrition Status in Tanzania
Monica Sebastian Kauky, Martin Chegere, Razack Bakari Lokina ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how household shocks affect the nutrition of children under five in Tanzania using national panel survey data from 2008–2013. Weather shocks, food price increases, and death of family members were found to increase the likelihood of child stunting and underweight status. Food assistance programmes reduced the probability of stunting and underweight. The authors recommend strengthening food assistance and agricultural productivity policies to protect children from malnutrition during crises.
Key points
- Weather shocks increase the probability of children being stunted and underweight
- Food price rise shocks increase the probability of child stunting
- Death of a family member increases the probability of child stunting
- Food assistance reduces the probability of children being stunted and underweight
- Government should improve food assistance programmes and enhance agricultural productivity policies such as irrigation schemes
Limitations
The document is a reference list and abstract without detailed methodology, sample sizes, or effect sizes reported. It does not specify the magnitude of effects or provide information about potential confounding variables and their control.
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to examine the effects of household shocks on the nutrition status of children between 0–59 months in Tanzania. The study employed the national panel survey data of Tanzania collected in three waves: 2008/09, 2010/11, and 2012/13. The study used the panel random-effects probit model to estimate the effects of household shocks on child nutrition status, measured by binary variables: stunting, wasting, and underweight. Findings indicated that weather shocks increase the probability of a child being stunted and underweight. Moreover, the results revealed that food price rise shocks and the death of a family member increase the probability of child-stunting. In addition, the findings indicated that food assistance reduces the probability of a child being stunted and underweight. 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Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Food assistance programmes
- Population
- Children aged 0–59 months in Tanzania from households experiencing shocks
Key finding
Food assistance reduces the probability of a child being stunted