Can natural disasters impact children growth paths? Evidence from Mozambique 2000 floods

• Autor(a) principal: Rodrigues, Helena Isabel Abreu Vieira
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/22203
• topic: natural disasters; mozambique; children’s weight and height; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Can natural disasters impact children growth paths? This research follows the current interest on the effects of large-scale natural disasters on human capital outcomes. We combine DHS Survey Data with GPS Data to study the impact of Mozambican major floods on children’s health outcomes. This particular flooding episode was caused by a combination of heavy tropical rainfalls and cyclone Eline taking place in early 2000. OLS and Propensity Score Matching are used to examine the causal relationship between household’s distance from flooded area and anthropometric outcomes of children. We conclude that for children born between 2000 and 2003, a kilometre increase in household’s distance leads to a 0.012 and 0.024 increase in the weight-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores, respectively. Keywords: natural disasters, Mozambique, children’s weight and height