Climate anomalies and childhood growth in Peru

This study tested whether susceptibility to linear growth faltering is higher among Peruvian children from indigenous, rural, low-education, and low-income households. High-resolution weather and household survey data from Demographic and Health Survey 1996 –2012 were used to explore height-for-agez-scores (HAZ) at each year of life from 0 to 5. Rural, indigenous children at age 0 –1 experience a HAZ reduction of 0.35 units associated with prenatal excess rainfall which is also observed at age 4–5. Urban, non-indigenous children at age 4–5 experience a HAZ increase of 0.07 units associated with postnatal excess rainfall, but this advantage is not seen among rural, indig enous children. These findings highlight the need to consider developmental stage and social predictors as key components in public health interventions targeting increased climate change resilience.
Source: Population and Environment - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research