Children's Health Status in Uganda

Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program Working Paper No. 188

25 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2005

See all articles by Godfrey Bahiigwa

Godfrey Bahiigwa

Makerere University - Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC)

Stephen D. Younger

Tulane University - CEQ Institute

Date Written: July 2005

Abstract

This paper studies trends and determinants of children's standardized heights, a good overall measure of children's health status, in Uganda over the 1990s. During this period, Uganda made impressive strides in economic growth and poverty reduction (Appleton, 2001). However, there is concern that improvements in other dimensions of well-being, especially health, has been much weaker. We find that several policy variables are important determinants of children's heights. Most importantly, a broad package of basic health care services has a large statistically significant effect. Provision of some of these services, especially vaccinations, appears to have faltered in the late 1990s, which may help to explain the lackluster performance on stunting during that period. We also find that civil conflict, a persistent problem in some areas of the country, has an important (negative) impact on children's heights. Better educated mothers have taller children, but the only substantial impact is for children of mothers who have completed secondary school. Finally, we find that households that rely more on own-production sources of income tend to have more malnourished children, even after controlling for their overall level of income and a host of other factors. This latter conclusion is supportive of the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture, which aims to shift farmers from subsistence to commercial agriculture or other more productive activities.

Keywords: height-for-age, Uganda

JEL Classification: I12, O55

Suggested Citation

Bahiigwa, Godfrey and Younger, Stephen D., Children's Health Status in Uganda (July 2005). Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program Working Paper No. 188, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=779425 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.779425

Godfrey Bahiigwa (Contact Author)

Makerere University - Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) ( email )

Plot 51 Pool Road
PO Box 7841
Kampala
Uganda
256-41-540159/540141 (Phone)
256-41-541022 (Fax)

Stephen D. Younger

Tulane University - CEQ Institute ( email )

6823 St Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA 70118
United States

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