Conscientia Beam || conscientiabeam.com

Export to

Contact Us

For Marketing, Sales and Subscriptions Inquiries

2637 E Atlantic Blvd #43110
Pompano Beach, FL 33062

USA

Conference List

Asian Development Policy Review

June 2015, Volume 3, 2, pp 29-48

Gender Analysis of Malnutrition: A Case Study of School-Going Children in Bahawalpur

Tasnim Khan

Rana Ejaz Ali Khan

Muhammad Ali Raza

Tasnim Khan¹
Rana Ejaz Ali Khan²

Muhammad Ali Raza³

Associate Professor, Department of Economics The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan ¹

Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Economics The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan ²

Research Assistant at Center for Business and Economics Research, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan ³

on Google Scholar

on PubMed

Pages: 29-48

DOI: 10.18488/journal.107/2015.3.2/107.2.29.48

View Citation

500Views

Create Citation Alert

Abstract:

The literature confirmed the existence of gender discrimination in children?s health, nutrition and education in South Asia. This study examines, whether there are sex differences in stunting and wasting among schooling-going children (5-14 years) and how they are affected by socioeconomic factors. A sample of 684 school-going children of both sexes (376 male children and 308 female children) was selected randomly from different schools of both urban and rural areas of Bahawalpur. Weight and height were taken according to anthropometric measurements. The nutritional indices of World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) were used as nutritional standards. The stunting and wasting rates were found 10.1 and 15.2 percent for males and 15.2 and 25 percent for female children respectively. The binary logistic regression for two indices of malnutrition, i.e. wasting and stunting were run separately for male children and female children to determine gender discrimination in nutritional status of children. The probability of being stunted and wasted by increase in age was found significantly lower for females as compared to male children. The male and female children of nuclear households have higher probability to be stunted and wasted respectively but the effect has been found more severe for female children. Mother?s education emerged as one of the most important variables which decrease the probability of stunting for both male and female children. The effect is found more favorable for male as compared to female children. Household income status and living condition index has shown no significant effect on probability of malnutrition of male and female children.

Contribution/ Originality

Keywords:

Reference:

Alderman, H. and P. Gartler, 1997. Family resources and gender differences in human capital investment: The demand for children’s medical-care in Pakistan. In Haddad, L., J. Hoddinott and H. Alderman (Eds). International resource allocation in developing countries: Models, methods and policy. Baltimore: John Hopkin Univeristy Press.
Arnold, F., M.K. Choe and T.K. Roy, 1998. Son preference, the family-building process and child mortality in India. Population Studies, 52(3): 301-315.
Arnold, F., S. Kishor and T.K. Roy, 2002. Sex-selective abortions in India. Population and Development Review, 28(4): 1-28.
Aturupane, H., A.B. Deolalikar and D. Gunewardena, 2008. The determinants of child weight and height in Sri Lanka: A qualitative regression approach. Research Paper No. 2008/53. UNU-WIDER.
Basu, A.M., 1993. How pervasive are sex differentials in childhood nutritional levels in South Asia?. Social Biology, 40(1-2): 25-37.
Biswas, S.C., M.A. Darda and M.F. Aslam, 2001. Factors affecting childhood immunization in Bangladesh. Pakistan Development Review, 40(1): 57-70.
Bourne, P.A., 2009. Childhood health in Jamaica: Changing patterns in health conditions of children 0-14 years. North American Journal of Medical Science, 1(4): 160-168.
Chen, L.A.K., M.A. Chowdhury and S.L. Huffman, 1980. Anthropometric assessment of energy-protein malnutrition and subsequent risk of mortality among pre-school aged children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 33(8): 1836-1845.
Choudhury, K.K., M.A. Hanifi, S. Rasheed and A. Bhuiya, 2000. Gender inequality and severe malnutrition among children in a remote rural area of Bangladesh. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 18(3): 123-130.
Christiansen, L. and H. Alderman, 2004. Child malnutrition in Ethiopia: Can maternal knowledge augment the role of income? Economic Development and Cultural Change, 52(2): 278-312.
DasGupta, M., 1987. Selective discrimination against female children in rural Punjab, India. Population and Development Review, 13(1): 77-100.
Garcia, M. and H. Alderman, 1989. Patterns and determinants of malnutrition in children in Pakistan: Impact of community health. Pakistan Development Review, 28(4): 891-902.
Giroux, S.C., 2008. Child stunting across schooling and fertility transitions: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. Calverton, Maryland, USA: MACRO International.
Haddad, L., C. Pena, C. Nishida, A. Quisumging and A. Slack, 1996. Food security and nutrition implications of intrahousehold bias: A review of literature. FCND Discussion Paper No.9. Washington, D.C: International Food Policy Research Institute.
Hien, N.N. and N.N. Hoa, 2009. Nutritional status and determinants of malnutrition in children under three years of age in Nghean, Vietnam. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 8(7): 958-964.
Holmes, J., 2006. Do community factors have a differential impact on the health outcomes of boys and girls? Evidence from rural Pakistan. Health Policy Plan, 21(3): 231-240.
Khan, R.E.A., 2005. Gender discrimination in demand for child schooling. GCU Economics Journal, 37(1&2): 29-58.
Khan, R.E.A., 2005;2008. Gender discrimination in demand for child schooling. GCU Economics Journal, 37(1&2): 29-58.
Khan, R.E.A., 2008. Gender analysis of children activities in Pakistan. Pakistan Development Review, 47(2): 169-195.
Khan, R.E.A. and T. Azid, 2011. Malnutrition in primary school-age children: A case of urban and slum areas of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. International Journal of Social Economics, 38(9): 748-766.
Khan, R.E.A. and T. Khan, 2004. Economics of malnutrition in children. Journal of Educational Research, 7(1,2): 26-39.
King, E. and A. Mason, 2001. Engendering development through gender equality in rights, resources and voice. World Bank Policy Research Report. World Bank, Washington, D.C.
Kostermans, K., 1993. Assessing the quality of anthropometric data. Living standard measurement study No.101. Washington, D.C: World Bank.
Marcoux, A., 2002. Sex differentials in undernutrition: A look at survey evidence. Population and Development Review, 28(2): 275-284.
Mason, K.O., 1994. Conceptualizing and measuring women’s status. Paper Presented at Annual Meeting of the Population. Association of America, May 5-7.
Mbuya, M.N.N., M. Chidem, B. Chasekwa and V. Mishra, 2010. Biological, social, and environmental determinants of low birth-weight and stunting among infants and young children in Zimbabwe. Calverton, Maryland, USA: Zimbabwe Working Papers.
Mehrotra, S., 2006. Child malnutrition and gender discrimination in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly, 61(10): 912-918.
Mian, R.M.A., M. Ali, P.A. Ferroni and P. Underwood, 2002. The nutritional status of school-aged children in an urban squatter settlement in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 1(3): 121-123.
Mishra, V., S. Lahiri and N.Y. Luther, 1999. Child nutrition in India. National family health survey subject reports No. 14. Mumbai: International Institute for Population Sciences; and Honolulu: East-West Center Program on Population.
Mishra, V., T.K. Roy and R.D. Retherford, 2004. Sex differential in childhood feeding, health-care and nutritional status in India. East-West Center Working Papers. Population and Health Series, Paper No.113. East-West Center, Hawaii.
Mondal, P.R., S. Biswas and K. Bose, 2012. Gender discrimination in undernutrition with mediating factors among bengalee school children from Eastern India. HOMO Journal of Comparative Human Biology, 63(2): 126-135.
Mosley, W.H., 1985. Biological and socioeconomic determinants of child survival. A Proximate Determinants Framework Integrating Fertility and Mortality Variables. In International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). International Population Conference, Florence. Paris: IUSSP, 2:190-208.
Mosley, W.H. and L.C. Chen, 1984. An analytical framework for the study of child survival in developing countries. Population and Development Review, 10(1): 25-45.
Mozumder, A.B., K. Barket-E, T.T. Kane, A. Levin and S. Ahmed, 2000. The effect of birth interval on malnutrition in Bangladesh: Infants and young children. Journal of Biosocial Sciences, 32(4): 289-300.
Muhuri, P.K. and S.H. Preston, 1991. Effects of family composition on mortality differentials by sex among children in matlab Bangladesh. Population and Development Review, 17(3): 415-434.
Mukherjee, R.M., L.C.S. Chaturveedi and C.R. Bhalwar, 2008. Determinants of nutritional status of school children. Malnutrition Military Journal of Armed Forces, India, 4(3): 227-231.
Mukuria, A., J. Cushing and J. Sangha, 2005. Nutritional status of children: Results from the demographic and health surveys 1994-2001. Calverton, Maryland, USA: ORC Macro.
Pande, R.P., 2003. Selective gender differences in childhood nutrition and immunization in rural India: The role of siblings. Demography, 40(3): 595-418.
Ravindaran, T.K.S. and U.S. Mishra, 2000. Health consequences of gender-based discrimination in childhood: A review of recent evidence. Paper Presented at the WHO Meeting on Gender Analysis for Health, Geneva, 28-30, June.
Sahn, D.E. and S.D. Younger, 2005. Improvements in children’s health: Does inequality matter. Journal of Economic Inequality, 3(2): 125-143.
Ukwuani, F.A. and C.M. Suchindran, 2003. Implications of women’s work for child nutritional status in Sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of Nigeria. Social Science & Medicine, 56(10): 2109-2121.
UNDP, 2000. Human development report 2000: Human rights and human development. Published for United Nations development program. New York: Oxford University Press.
Visaria, L. and P. Visaria, 1995. India’s population in ttransition. Population Bulletin, 50(3): 1-51.
Wamani, H., T. Tylleskar, A.N. Astrom, J.K. Tumwine and S. Peterson, 2004. Mothers’ education but not fathers education, household assets or land ownership is the best predictor of child health inequalities in rural Uganda. International Journal for Equity in Health, 3(1): 9.
World Bank, 2002. Pakistan poverty assessment. Poverty in Pakistan: Vulnerability, social gaps and rural dynamics. Report No. 2429. PAK. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 2005. Pakistan country gender assessment report: Bridging the gap, opportunities and challenges. Report No. 32244-PAK. Environment and Social Development Sector Unit. South Asia Region. World Bank, Washington, D.C.