Macro shocks and micro outcomes: child nutrition during Indonesia's crisis.
A survey of households in rural Java is used to assess the nutritional impact of Indonesia's drought and financial crisis of 1997/1998. A time-age-cohort decomposition reveals significant nutritional impacts. However, child weight-for-age (WAZ) remained constant throughout the crisis, despite rapid increases in food prices and the consequent household consumption shock. The evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that within households, mothers buffered children's caloric intake, resulting in increased maternal wasting. However, reductions in the consumption of high-quality foods further resulted in increased prevalence of anemia for both mothers and children. The combined effects were particularly severe for cohorts conceived and weaned during the crisis.
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA. steven.block@tufts.edu
Steven A
SA
Block
Lynnda
L
Kiess
Patrick
P
Webb
Soewarta
S
Kosen
Regina
R
Moench-Pfanner
Martin W
MW
Bloem
C Peter
CP
Timmer
D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004190:Disasters; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012423:Rural Health; D013223:Statistics as Topic