title: Effects of food price shocks on child malnutrition: The Mozambican experience 2008/2009.
abstract: A propitiously timed household survey carried out in Mozambique over the period 2008/2009 permits us to study the relationship between shifts in food prices and child nutrition status in a low income setting. We focus on weight-for-height and weight-for-age in different survey quarters characterized by very different food price inflation rates. Using propensity score matching techniques, we find that these nutrition measures, which are sensitive in the short run, improve significantly in the fourth quarter of the survey, when the inflation rate for basic food products is low, compared to the first semester or three quarters, when food price inflation was generally high. The prevalence of underweight, in particular, falls by about 40 percent. We conclude that the best available evidence points to food penury, driven by the food and fuel price crisis combined with a short agricultural production year, as substantially increasing malnutrition amongst under-five children in Mozambique.
authors.affiliation: World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: Channing@wider.unu.edu.
authors.forename: Channing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arndt
authors.affiliation: Department of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark. Electronic address: azharh@ruc.dk.
authors.forename: M Azhar
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: vincenzo.salvucci@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Salvucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Business and Economics, and Centre of Health Economics Research (COHERE), University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark. Electronic address: lpro@sam.sdu.dk.
authors.forename: Lars Peter
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Østerdal
mesh_terms: D001835:Body Weight; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007250:Inflation, Economic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009073:Mozambique / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D057216:Propensity Score; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Child malnutrition; Food prices; Inflation; Mozambique