title: The child health implications of privatizing Africa's urban water supply.
abstract: Can private sector participation (PSP) in the piped water sector improve child health? I use child-level data from 39 African countries during 1986-2010 to show that PSP decreases diarrhea among urban-dwelling, under-five children by 2.6 percentage points, or 16% of its mean prevalence. Children from the poorest households benefit most. PSP is also associated with a 7.8 percentage point increase in school attendance of 7-17 year olds. Importantly, PSP increases usage of piped water by 9.7 percentage points, suggesting a possible causal channel explaining health improvements. To attribute causality, I exploit time-variation in the private water market share controlled by African countries' former colonizers. A placebo analysis reveals that PSP does not affect respiratory illness, nor does it affect a control group of rural children.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA 94305, United States. Electronic address: k.kosec@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kosec
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000592:standards; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D017149:Private Sector / Q000191:economics*; D012499:Sanitation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D014038:Toilet Facilities / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014504:Urban Health
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water
keywords: Child health; Education; Infrastructure; Privatization; Water