Chronic malnutrition in early childhood impairs brain development and has inescapable effects on a growing child. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports an association between malnutrition and poor school performance and this, in turn, lowers lifetime employment opportunities and income generation. Understanding the nature and underlying factors behind health disparities may help in the design of effective intervention measures to improve population health outcomes.
In his recent study published in Health Economics Review, Professor Mesbah Sharaf and co-author Ahmed Rashad (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management) decomposed and identified the factors behind the rural-urban gap in child nutrition in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen. They find the rural-urban gap in child malnutrition was minor the case of Egypt and Jordan, but was significant for Yemen.
Professor Sharaf finds income inequality between urban and rural households explains most of the malnutrition gap. Accordingly, intervention measures that entail redistribution of wealth, and improved access to health care, clean water and sanitation in rural areas would be effective in reducing the inequality in child nutrition. In Jordan, regional differences explained most of the gap in child nutrition, which implies that policies to improve behavioral and awareness programs would be necessary interventions.
For more on this research, see the working paper: Regional Inequalities in Child Malnutrition in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen: A Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Analysis.
In his recent study published in Health Economics Review, Professor Mesbah Sharaf and co-author Ahmed Rashad (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management) decomposed and identified the factors behind the rural-urban gap in child nutrition in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen. They find the rural-urban gap in child malnutrition was minor the case of Egypt and Jordan, but was significant for Yemen.
Professor Sharaf finds income inequality between urban and rural households explains most of the malnutrition gap. Accordingly, intervention measures that entail redistribution of wealth, and improved access to health care, clean water and sanitation in rural areas would be effective in reducing the inequality in child nutrition. In Jordan, regional differences explained most of the gap in child nutrition, which implies that policies to improve behavioral and awareness programs would be necessary interventions.
For more on this research, see the working paper: Regional Inequalities in Child Malnutrition in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen: A Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Analysis.