Impacts of Environmental Degradation: Forest Loss, Malaria, and Child Outcomes in Nigeria

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Berazneva, Julia; Byker, Tanya S.
• 署名单位: Middlebury College
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01238
• 发表日期: 2024-09
• 页码: 1254-1267
• 关键词: plasmodium-falciparum malaria; low-birth-weight; infant-mortality; in-utero; deforestation; HEALTH; LIFE; exposure; CONSEQUENCES; eradication

摘要

We examine the effect of forest loss around the time of birth on infant mortality and the early childhood health of children in rural Nigeria. We find that forest loss leads to an increase in neonatal mortality-one standard deviation of forest loss is associated with a 9%-15% increase in the likelihood of death within the first month of life. The mechanism linking forest loss to infant death is maternal exposure to malaria when the child is in utero. Such exposure also results in worse birth outcomes, proxied by lower weight-for-age and height-for-age of surviving infants.