The impact of timing of in utero drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural households: evidence from Sierra Leone

Olukorede Abiona; Joseph B. Ajefu

doi:10.1007/s00148-022-00926-w

The impact of timing of in utero drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural households: evidence from Sierra Leone

Olukorede Abiona^*, Joseph B. Ajefu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Accounting and Financial Management Department

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Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of timeline-bound fetal exposure to drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural Sierra Leone. We link repeated cross-section birth record data across 11 years from the Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Surveys to district-level geolocation precipitation data from the University of Delaware weather repository. The methodology uses spatial distribution of precipitation across districts to identify the impacts of extreme droughts on birth outcomes. This study reinforces both harvest and direct gestation as maternal nutrition pathways for the impact of drought shocks on birth outcomes. Results also show that adverse in utero shock impacts are concentrated among poorer households and may be mitigated by antenatal care services.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1333-1362
Number of pages	30
Journal	Journal of Population Economics
Volume	36
Issue number	3
Early online date	7 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-022-00926-w
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2023

Keywords

Birthweight
Harvests
Gestation
Antenatal care
Sierra Leone

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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s00148-022-00926-wFinal published version, 1.28 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The impact of timing of in utero drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural households: evidence from Sierra Leone",

abstract = "This paper investigates the impact of timeline-bound fetal exposure to drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural Sierra Leone. We link repeated cross-section birth record data across 11 years from the Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Surveys to district-level geolocation precipitation data from the University of Delaware weather repository. The methodology uses spatial distribution of precipitation across districts to identify the impacts of extreme droughts on birth outcomes. This study reinforces both harvest and direct gestation as maternal nutrition pathways for the impact of drought shocks on birth outcomes. Results also show that adverse in utero shock impacts are concentrated among poorer households and may be mitigated by antenatal care services.",

keywords = "Birthweight, Harvests, Gestation, Antenatal care, Sierra Leone",

author = "Olukorede Abiona and Ajefu, {Joseph B.}",

note = "Funding information: We are very grateful for very valuable comments from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business Research Grant Committee members. We also thank seminar participants at the International Health Economic Association (iHEA) Congress 2021. We wish to express our deep appreciation to the UTS Business Research Grant (BRG) Committee for the financial support to carry out this research. This project received ethics approval from the UTS Human Research Ethics Committee (UTS HREC REF NO. ETH18-2507). We express our appreciation to editor Alfonso Flores-Lagunes and two anonymous referees for very insightful comments and feedback which were instrumental to the transformation of the paper during the review process. The usual disclaimer applies. Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.",

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T2 - evidence from Sierra Leone

AU - Abiona, Olukorede

AU - Ajefu, Joseph B.

N1 - Funding information: We are very grateful for very valuable comments from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business Research Grant Committee members. We also thank seminar participants at the International Health Economic Association (iHEA) Congress 2021. We wish to express our deep appreciation to the UTS Business Research Grant (BRG) Committee for the financial support to carry out this research. This project received ethics approval from the UTS Human Research Ethics Committee (UTS HREC REF NO. ETH18-2507). We express our appreciation to editor Alfonso Flores-Lagunes and two anonymous referees for very insightful comments and feedback which were instrumental to the transformation of the paper during the review process. The usual disclaimer applies. Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.

PY - 2023/7/1

Y1 - 2023/7/1

N2 - This paper investigates the impact of timeline-bound fetal exposure to drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural Sierra Leone. We link repeated cross-section birth record data across 11 years from the Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Surveys to district-level geolocation precipitation data from the University of Delaware weather repository. The methodology uses spatial distribution of precipitation across districts to identify the impacts of extreme droughts on birth outcomes. This study reinforces both harvest and direct gestation as maternal nutrition pathways for the impact of drought shocks on birth outcomes. Results also show that adverse in utero shock impacts are concentrated among poorer households and may be mitigated by antenatal care services.

AB - This paper investigates the impact of timeline-bound fetal exposure to drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural Sierra Leone. We link repeated cross-section birth record data across 11 years from the Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Surveys to district-level geolocation precipitation data from the University of Delaware weather repository. The methodology uses spatial distribution of precipitation across districts to identify the impacts of extreme droughts on birth outcomes. This study reinforces both harvest and direct gestation as maternal nutrition pathways for the impact of drought shocks on birth outcomes. Results also show that adverse in utero shock impacts are concentrated among poorer households and may be mitigated by antenatal care services.

KW - Birthweight

KW - Harvests

KW - Gestation

KW - Antenatal care

KW - Sierra Leone

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DO - 10.1007/s00148-022-00926-w

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SN - 0933-1433

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JO - Journal of Population Economics

JF - Journal of Population Economics

IS - 3

ER -

The impact of timing of in utero drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural households: evidence from Sierra Leone

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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