Iron Deficiency and Schooling Attainment in Peru

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chong, Alberto; Cohen, Isabelle; Field, Erica; Nakasone, Eduardo; Torero, Maximo
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia State University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Duke University; Michigan State University; CGIAR; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20140494
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 222-255
• 关键词: educational-achievement; preschool-children; Childbearing age; supplementation; anemia; girls; adolescents; nutrition; women; performance

摘要

Do nutritional deficiencies contribute to the intergenerational persistence of poverty by reducing the earnings potential of future generations? To address this question, we made available supplemental iron pills at a health center in rural Peru and encouraged adolescents to take them via media messages. School administrative data provide novel evidence that reducing iron deficiency results in a large and significant improvement in school performance and aspirations for anemic students. Our findings demonstrate that combining low-cost outreach efforts and local supplementation programs can be an affordable and effective method of reducing rates of adolescent iron deficiency anemia.