Poverty Nutrition Research Articles

The New Face of Poverty: How Has the Composition of Poverty in Low Income and Lower Middle‐Income Countries (excluding China) Changed Since the 1990s?

To what extent do education, health and nutrition poverty rates differ by the spatial and social characteristics of households? And how has the composition of education, health and nutrition poverty changed since the 1990s in terms of the spatial and social characteristics of households? This paper provides an analysis of education, health and nutrition poverty in low-income countries (LICs) and lower middle-income countries (LMICs) by geography, education, employment and ethnicity characteristics of the household head based on the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from countries with surveys in both the 1990s and 2000s. It should be noted at the outset that such an aggregated attempt to assess the changing pattern of poverty across low and lower middle-income countries would be best viewed as an indicative ‘sketch’ of changing patterns of poverty. The data suggests that the composition of education, health and nutrition poverty –by the indicators chosen in this paper– has changed somewhat since the 1990s in terms of the spatial and social characteristics of households. This can be presented as a set of five ‘stylised facts’ on poverty as follows: I. More than three-quarters of education, health and nutrition poverty in LICs and LMICs (combined) is to be found in rural areas. However, an increasing proportion of education, health and nutrition poverty is in urban areas. II. Half of the education, health and nutrition poverty in LICs and LMICs (combined) is concentrated in those households where the head has ‘no education’. However, this share has fallen since the 1990s. III. A third of the education, health and nutrition poverty in LICs and LMICs (combined) is focused in the poorest wealth quintile (by DHS Wealth Index). And this share is increasing. IV. A third of the education, health and nutrition poverty in LICs and LMICs (combined) is concentrated among those in households where the head is ‘not in work’ and a further third where the household head is working in agriculture. V. Two-thirds of the education, health and nutrition poverty in LICs and LMICs (combined) is to be found among those households where the head is the member of an ‘ethnic minority group’ (meaning an ethnic group which is not the largest ethnic group). However, this finding should be viewed as tentative due to data constraints. Further, the composition of education, health and nutrition poverty differs between LICs and LMICs quite notably. The poor in LMICs – by the indicators used – are more urban and more educated than in LICs. Indeed, there are indications of marked differences in poverty profiles.

Hunger and nutritional poverty in Germany: quantitative and qualitative empirical insights

Despite increasing social inequality, hunger and nutritional poverty are not regarded as phenomena of German reality; Germany's debate on eating patterns is largely dominated by the issue of obesity. The article challenges this view and shows by means of empirical approaches that hunger and nutritional poverty tend to be underestimated in a supposedly affluent society. Due to a lack of appropriate food research in Germany, our study gives quantitative evidence drawn from a combination of studies to show that there is nutritional poverty in Germany, and that social welfare recipients are widely excluded from eating out, arguably an essential form of social and cultural participation. Furthermore, we provide insights, based on a qualitative longitudinal study, into day-to-day coping practices in response to food shortage. As the empirical results show, physiological hunger and hunger for social inclusion by eating out are a reality in contemporary German society. The predominant responses of the German political and social welfare system, however, can be characterised by delegation and denial of the problem and by a tendency to stigmatise the poor.

Diets, Nutrition and Poverty: The Indian Experience

This chapter focuses on the Indian experience with dietary changes, their nutritional implications, and policy response to alleviate nutritional deprivation. We review the evidence on nutrient intake and dietary changes, particularly the downward shift in calorie, protein and other nutrient intake over the period 1993–2004 and provide a demand based explanation of this shift. We report on eating out as an aspect of dietary transition, examine the relationship between calorie deprivation and poverty, and argue against delinking of the two. We analyse poverty nutrition traps, whether child undernutrition is underestimated and the double burden of undernutrition and obesity. We examine the (potential) contribution of National Rural Guarantee Scheme and Public Distribution System in mitigating the extent and severity of undernutrition. We emphasize that food security entails a right to certain policies to ensure food entitlements, as opposed to a narrow interpretation of the right to food in terms of state provisioning of these entitlements. Conclusions from a broad policy perspective are delineated.

Market-led Growth and Well-being – Gujarat, 1980–2005

An influential school in economic theory maintains that economic growth trickles down and automatically results in the distribution of its benefits across the population. This article examines this hypothesis in the context of Gujarat, one of the fastest growing states of India. Growth is based on industry and exports, mainly unhampered by labor unrest. However, the state has not made significant achievements in terms of well-being, especially in the rural areas. The article analyses levels of nutrition and rural poverty in the state, and finds a slowdown in these parameters. We contend that the neoliberal agenda of uncontrolled, outward-looking growth does not result in reduction of poverty or malnourishment. The policy implications are a need to promote the agricultural sector with a focus on resource-poor farmers and the re-institutionalization of an efficient system of food grain subsidization, which has been reduced in recent years.

DETERMINANTS OF INEQUALITY IN CHILD MALNUTRITION IN INDIA

This paper aims to explore the linkage between poverty and inequality in malnutrition through decomposition analysis using data from the National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) conducted in 2005–2006. Association between inequality in malnutrition and income inequality and poverty is observed at the state level. Inequality is analysed using the concentration index, which is further decomposed to identify the factors associated with inequality in malnutrition. Poverty, in terms of the wealth index, has considerable impact on average rates of malnutrition, indicating a disproportional burden of malnutrition on the poor. At the macro-economic level, overall socio-economic inequality correlates moderately with the inequality in malnutrition. On decomposition, poverty alone explains more than half of the inequality in malnutrition, which justifies the poverty–nutrition inequality linkage. The paper highlights the influence of poverty in worsening malnutrition, leading to unequal nutritional outcomes among children in India.

Calorie and Micronutrient Deprivation and Poverty Nutrition Traps in Rural India

Summary We test for the existence of a poverty nutrition trap (PNT) in the case of calories and four important micronutrients—carotene, iron, riboflavin, and thiamine—for three categories of wages: sowing, harvesting, and others for male and female workers separately using robust sample selection procedures due to Heckman to arrive at consistent and efficient estimates for rural India for the period January to June 1994. It is discovered that the PNT exists in ten cases indicating that the PNT is pervasive and has a significant impact on labor productivity of agricultural workers, particularly female agricultural workers.

Infant Nutrition and Global Poverty

How many of us have seen the plight of infants and children in Darfur Africa and South America on the nightly news? One has only to see these pictures once to appreciate the effect that poverty has on the nutritional status of infants and children. The presentation of thin wasted infants being held by thin mothers who often are alone and without financial emotional or social support elicits a visceral response in anyone who cares for women and children. Questions about the extent of the problem with its associated outcomes are the focus of this column. (excerpt)

Adequacy of dietary intakes and poverty in India: Trends in the 1990s

Linear programming methods, indicators of nutritional adequacy from the Indian Council of Medical Research and household expenditure survey data from the National Sample Survey Organization were used to construct poverty lines for India. Poverty ratios were calculated for 1993–1994 and 1999–2000 on the basis of nutritional adequacy poverty lines and compared to official estimates of poverty based on energy requirements. Nutritional adequacy poverty lines are higher than official poverty lines, particularly in rural areas. The application of nutritional adequacy poverty lines points to greater rural–urban poverty differences than in official estimates. Declines in rural poverty during the 1990s were also slower under the nutritional adequacy definition, especially in south India. There is a greater degree of rural–urban and regional bias in nutritional adequacy poverty reduction than suggested by official data. Inter-state variations in changes in nutritional poverty and official poverty in the 1990s are largely explained by differences in assumptions on overall price movements. However, relative price movements in food items also played a role, particularly the slow increase in prices of cereals and edible oils in comparison to the prices of pulses, and in some southern states, compared to milk and vegetable prices as well.

Micronutrient Deprivation and Poverty Nutrition Trap in Rural India

We test for the existence of a Poverty Nutrition Trap (PNT) in the case of calories and four important micronutrients — carotene, iron, riboflavin, and thiamine- for three categories of wages: sowing, harvesting, and other for male and female workers separately. We use household level national data for rural India for the period January to June 1994 and robust sample selection procedures due to Heckman to arrive at consistent and efficient estimates. It is discovered that the PNT exists in ten cases. It exists for calories for female harvesting and sowing wages. In the case of carotene male workers engaged in harvesting are subject to the PNT, whereas both male and female workers engaged in harvesting are subject to PNT in the case of iron. In the case of riboflavin female workers engaged in harvesting and sowing and male workers engaged in harvesting are subject to PNT, and, in the case of thiamine, female workers engaged in harvesting and sowing are subject to PNT. Thus micronutrient deficiency is pervasive and has a significant impact on labour productivity of agricultural workers in rural India. In particular, female workers are more prone to PNT than male workers.

Calorie Deprivation and Poverty Nutrition Trap in Rural India

This paper tests for the existence of a Poverty Nutrition Trap (PNT) in the case of the nutrient most likely to have productivity impacts, i.e., calories, for three categories of wages - sowing, harvesting, and other - and for male and female workers separately. We use household level national data for rural India for the period January to June 1994. We use robust sample selection procedures due to Tobit methods and due to Heckman to arrive at consistent estimates. It is discovered that the PNT exists for women workers engaged in harvesting and sowing in the case of the Heckman methodology. In the case of the Tobit analysis a PNT exists in the case of female harvest, male other, and female other categories of wages.

Poverty, birthweight, and infant weight gain in Hertfordshire, 1923-1939.

To investigate the association between poverty, birthweight, and infant weight gain in Hertfordshire, 1923-1939. Cohort study based on the Hertfordshire Health Visitors' Register (HHVR). The population of Hertfordshire, and a sub-sample of five Hertfordshire towns-Hoddesdon, Berkhampstead, Hertford, Hitchin, and Bishops Stortford-extracted from the HHVR. Some 71 201 live birth entries in the HHVR and a sample of 13,649 live birth entries for the five towns. MEASURE OF POVERTY: Rateable value of birth addresses reflecting market and rental value of housing. Birthweight, and infant weight gain (z score of weight at one year minus z score of birthweight). In Hertfordshire as a whole there was a reduction in mean birthweight from 7.7 pounds (lbs) in 1923 to 7.4 lbs in 1939. Over the same time period there was an increase in mean infant weight gain, although with a degree of variation within the trend. In the sample of five towns there was no association between rateable value and birthweight, but a significant association between rateable value and both weight at one year, and weight gain during the first year of life. In Hertfordshire average birthweight declined, whereas weight gain during the first year of life tended to increase, at a time when, nationally, calorific intake and per capita consumption of a range of nutritional ingredients was rising. Poverty, as measured by rateable value, did not correlate with birthweight but was associated with weight gain during the first year of life. These findings suggest that nutritional poverty had a more significant influence on post-natal weight gain than it did on birthweight.

Food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation in the Philippines

Food and nutrition security and poverty alleviation in the Philippines

Robust Comparisons of Malnutrition in Developing Countries

AbstractWe use Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to make international and inter‐temporal welfare comparisons. While most poverty analyses rely on expenditures or income, we use anthropometric measures of nutrition as indicators of living standards. The advantages are that we observe individual—not household—well‐being, deflators and exchange rates are unnecessary, and measurement techniques are similar across surveys. We test the robustness of the headcount results, and find that applying higher order Foster‐Greer‐Thorbecke poverty measures adds little information; although stochastic dominance testing of nutrition distributions reveals that changes in malnutrition are sensitive to the choice of the “nutrition poverty line”.

A Note on the Causal Factors of China's Famine in 1959–1961

A Note on the Causal Factors of China's Famine in 1959–1961

Will Developing Country Nutrition Improve with Income? A Case Study for Rural South India

Aggregate estimates of food expenditure are consistent with such a possibility, implying income/expenditure elasticities close to one. However, the high degree of aggregation at which such estimates are made means that the considerable increase in price per nutrient as income increases is ignored, and the nutrient elasticities are therefore overstated. Estimates for a rural south Indian sample indicate that this bias is considerable and that the true nutrient elasticities with respect to income may be close to zero.