HOUSEHOLDS, COMMUNITIES, AND PRESCHOOL CHILDRENS NUTRITION OUTCOMES - EVIDENCE FROM RURAL IVORY-COAST

This article examines the extent to which differences in child height can be explained by such regional factors as local wage rates, health, schooling, and water infrastructure; by such household level factors as land availability or wealth; and by parental factors, notably education of each of the parents and parental height. The paper presents estimates of a model for the determination of child nutrition outcomes as measured by height and weight-for-height. The results show positive and jointly significant effects for both mother's and father's education on weight-for-height, and positive maternal education effects on height. The impact of community characteristics is strong. Of these, local wage rates, the health environment and the quality of health infrastructure seem to matter most. -from Author