Mesbah Sharaf finds economic growth helps combat child malnutrition in Egypt

Study examines how increases in per capita income improve population health outcomes

Economics staff - 4 January 2017

Early-life nutrition has a significant impact on health and human development throughout the entire life course. The World Bank considers child malnutrition a major obstacle to human development and economic growth, especially among the poor and the vulnerable. A child's poor nutritional status is linked to poor school performance, which in turn lowers future employment opportunities and income generation, causing an intergenerational transmission of poverty. The United Nations Children's Fund says that tackling child malnutrition could boost developing countries' GDP by 3%.

In his article Economic Growth and Child Malnution in Egypt: New Evidence from National Demographic and Health Survey, published in Social Indicators Research, Professor Mesbah Sharaf and co-author Ahmed Rashad (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management) use Egypt as a case study. They find economic growth is associated with a statistically significant robust reduction in four child malnutrition outcomes: underweight (low weight-for-age), wasting (low weight-for-height), extreme wasting, and extreme stunting. A low weight-for-height reflects acute nutrition problems while a low weight-for-age reveals general nutritional and health problems. Sharaf and Rashad observe that household-level characteristics are also important. The odds that a child will have good nutritional outcomes increase if they are female, not a twin, older (not an infant), if they did not have a risky birth interval (a birth-to-birth interval of less than 24 months), and if a child's father has higher education.

Professor Sharaf's study is also available as a Department of Economics working paper: Does Economic Growth Reduce Child Malnutrition in Egypt? New Evidence from National Demographic and Health Survey