Adverse Effects of Early Life Extreme Precipitation Shocks on Short‐term Health and Adulthood Welfare Outcomes

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of exposure to early life rainfall shock on children's anthropometric growth status and other welfare outcomes. The study exploits World Bank repeated cross-section household data on Malawi and exogenous variation in precipitation measures across localities to identify the impact of drought and flood shocks on health, schooling and satisfaction levels. Our main estimate for children's anthropometric growth reveals that an incidence of drought shock leads to a resultant average decrease of 15%, 17% and 43% in age-standardized weight z-scores for shocks experienced at in-utero stage, first and second years respectively. Correspondingly, the relative impacts of an incidence of drought shock on age-standardized height z-scores are 14%, 15% and 27%. In contrast, the impacts of flood shock on each of these outcomes deteriorate over the outlined reference periods. On the adult dimension, we find that adults who face in-utero drought shock are more likely to have greater school entry delays and be unhappy with their current economic situations. However, this adulthood result pertains to male adults in our sample.

Climate change and educational attainment in the global tropics

“…In India, drought exposure in utero through age 4 is negatively associated with having ever enrolled in school (29) and, in Indonesia, greater rainfall during the year of birth is positively associated with women's educational attainment in adulthood (30). In Malawi, in utero exposure to drought is associated with delayed school entry among male children (31). Further, in rural Ethiopia, greater rainfall during the main agricultural season in early childhood is positively associated with having completed at least 1 y of schooling as well as with attending school at the time of the survey (32).…”

Exploring linkages between drought and HIV treatment adherence in Africa: a systematic review

“…The economic shocks associated with drought, especially in terms of seasonal poverty, can impact investment in human capital, including education 56 , 98 , 99 and access to adequate health care. Previous ART adherence studies showed that HIV-positive individuals who had to bear the cost of treatment, including those linked to transportation to clinics, reported poor adherence.…”

Exploring linkages between drought and HIV treatment adherence in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…The economic shocks associated with drought, especially in terms of seasonal poverty, can impact investment in human capital, including education, 45,104,108 and access to adequate health care. Previous ART adherence studies showed that HIV-positive individuals who had to bear the cost of treatment, including those linked to transportation to clinics, reported poor adherence 31 .…”

“…Drought aggravates the physical and mental health pressures that individuals face. 4–6,8,47,57,59,102,104,105,127 Like other environmental stressors and extreme events, including floods, drought is linked to disease outbreaks such as Rift Valley Fever, Konzo disease, trachoma, diseases linked to poor hygiene and access to water like diarrhoea, and those carried by vectors like chikungunya outbreaks in East Africa. 4–6,59 Further, drought has been linked to later life disability, especially among males who also are at risk of both physical and mental disabilities having experienced drought as infants 105 …”