Exposure to conflict-related violence and nutritional status of children in Iraq. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Acharya, Yubraj; Luke, Nancy; Naz, Saman; Sharma, Dhiraj
• Is Part Of: SSM - population health. Volume 11(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: Iraq -- Conflict -- Nutrition -- Children -- Violence; Social medicine -- Periodicals; Medical anthropology -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Periodicals; 362.105
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100585
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-8273

Abstract

Abstract: There is limited empirical evidence of the health effects of war-related violence on child nutritional status. Using unique micro-level data from Iraq, we create measures of cumulative exposure to violence since conception for children ages two to five based on their date of birth and geographic location. We examine the relationship between height-for-age z-scores, a measure of chronic malnutrition, and four indicators of violence in a regression framework, adjusting for potential confounders and trends. We find that a child exposed to the maximum number of violent incidents is likely to experience a 0.5 standard deviation reduction in height-for-age z-score compared to a child who is exposed to no incidents. Each type of attack we evaluate is negatively associated with height-for-age. Further analysis reveals that the associations are the strongest for children in the northern and central regions where the bulk of the violent incidents occurred. Contrary to our expectation, the associations are similar for boys and girls. Our findings suggest that, in addition to efforts aimed at decreasing violent conflict in Iraq in general, the government and its development partners should focus relief, recovery, and reconstruction efforts in the central and northern regions of the country. Highlights: We examine the association between exposure to violence and height-for-age z-scores of 2–5 year olds in Iraq. We use multiple measures of exposure to violence from a unique micro-level data. Each measure has detrimental effects, and IED and direct fire incidents have the greatest impact. The associations are the strongest for children in the northern and the central regions.