Desert Locust Swarms and Child Health

Le, Kien and Nguyen, My (2022): Desert Locust Swarms and Child Health.

Abstract

This study evaluates how in-utero exposure to an insect pest invasion, particularly, the outbreak of desert locust swarms, affects early childhood health in Africa and Asia over the past three decades (1990-2018). Employing the difference-in-differences model, we find that children being prenatally exposed to the outbreak have their height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age z-scores lower by 0.159, 0.148, and 0.155 standard deviations, respectively, compared to unexposed children. Our heterogeneity analyses show that the health setbacks disproportionately fall on children of disadvantaged backgrounds, i.e., those born to lower-educated mothers, poorer mothers, and rural mothers. To the extent that poor health in early life exerts long-lasting irreversible consequences over the life cycle, the study calls for effective measures to minimize the pernicious effects of the desert locust swarm outbreak.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Desert Locust; Child Health; Developing Countries.
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health

References

Vitlic, A., Lord, J. M., & Phillips, A. C. (2014). Stress, ageing and their influence on functional, cellular and molecular aspects of the immune system. Age, 36(3), 1169-1185.

Martorell, R. (1999). The nature of child malnutrition and its long-term implications. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 20(3), 288-292.

World Health Organization (2010). Nutrition Landscape Information System (NLIS) country profile indicators: interpretation guide. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/44397

Le, K., & Nguyen, M. (2020). Aerial bombardment and educational attainment. International Review of Applied Economics, 34(3), 361-383.

Tura, G., Fantahun, M., & Worku, A. (2013). The effect of health facility delivery on neonatal mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 13(1), 1-9.

Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Postel-Vinay, G., & Watts, T. (2010). Long-run health impacts of income shocks: Wine and phylloxera in nineteenth-century France. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(4), 714-728.

Alderman, H., Hoddinott, J., & Kinsey, B. (2006). Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition. Oxford Economic Papers, 58(3), 450-474.

Nguyen, M., & Le, K. (2022). Maternal education and son preference. International Journal of Educational Development, 89, 102552.

Gibbs, C. M., Wendt, A., Peters, S., & Hogue, C. J. (2012). The impact of early age at first childbirth on maternal and infant health. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 26, 259-284.

Le, K., & Nguyen, M. (2022). Son preference and health disparities in developing countries. SSM-Population Health, 101036.

Maccini, S., & Yang, D. (2009). Under the weather: Health, schooling, and economic consequences of early-life rainfall. American Economic Review, 99(3), 1006-26.

Minoiu, C., & Shemyakina, O. (2012). Child health and conflict in Côte d'Ivoire. American Economic Review, 102(3), 294-99.

World Bank. (2020). The Locust Crisis: The World Bank’s Response. Available at: https://worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2020/04/27/the-locust-crisis-the-world-banks-response

World Meteorological Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2016. Weather and Desert Locusts.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2020. Five things you should know about an age-old pest: the Desert Locust. Available at: http://fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1273770/

Le, K., & Nguyen, M. (2021). How education empowers women in developing countries. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 21(2), 511-536.

Chen, X. K., Wen, S. W., Fleming, N., Demissie, K., Rhoads, G. G., & Walker, M. (2007). Teenage pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes: a large population based retrospective cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 36(2), 368-373.

World Health Organization (2008). Training course on child growth assessment. Geneva, WHO.

Kalakkal, J., & Singh, A. (2021). Desert locusts’ upsurges: A harbinger of emerging climate change induced crises? Foresight Brief No. 22-January 2021. Foresight Briefs: Early Warning, Emerging Issues and Futures.

Bush, N. R., Savitz, J., Coccia, M., Jones-Mason, K., Adler, N., Boyce, W. T., ... & Epel, E. (2021). Maternal stress during pregnancy predicts infant infectious and noninfectious illness. The Journal of Pediatrics, 228, 117-125.

Pratt, C. F., Constantine, K. L., & Murphy, S. T. (2017). Economic impacts of invasive alien species on African smallholder livelihoods. Global Food Security, 14, 31-37.

Winship, C., & Radbill, L. (1994). Sampling weights and regression analysis. Sociological Methods & Research, 23(2), 230-257.

Belkacemi, L., Nelson, D. M., Desai, M., & Ross, M. G. (2010). Maternal undernutrition influences placental-fetal development. Biology of Reproduction, 83(3), 325-331.

Le, K., & Nguyen, M. (2022). Early-life Rainfall and Long-term Human Capital Accumulation of African Women.

Sharma, K. R., Jaiswal D. K., Babu, S. R., & Saraoj, A. K. (2018). Impact of invasive insect pests species on agro-ecosystem in India and their management. Indian Journal of Agriculture and Allied Sciences, 4(1), 20-26.

Venette, R. C., & Hutchison, W. D. (2021). Invasive Insect Species: Global Challenges, Strategies & Opportunities. Frontiers in Insect Science, 1, 1.

Gelman, A. (2007). Struggles with survey weighting and regression modeling. Statistical Science, 22(2), 153-164.

Le, K., & Nguyen, M. (2020). The impacts of farmland expropriation on Vietnam’s rural households. Review of Development Economics, 24(4), 1560-1582.

Ramakrishnan, U., Grant, F., Goldenberg, T., Zongrone, A., & Martorell, R. (2012). Effect of women's nutrition before and during early pregnancy on maternal and infant outcomes: a systematic review. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 26, 285-301.

Steedman, A. (ed.) (1990). Locust Handbook. 3rd edn. Chatham: Natural Resources Institute.