tailieunhanh - The Production of Child Health in Kenya: A Structural Model of Birth Weight

Despite mounting public concern, the factors influencing this illness are not fully understood, especially for children. Medical research has demonstrated that asthma is both a chronic and acute illness. In the chronic aspect, an individual’s airways are persistently inflamed and their immune system is hyper- responsive, but the causes of this remain largely unknown (American Lung Association (2000)). During an acute response, an irritant is inhaled that causes three changes to occur: muscular bands around the bronchioles constrict, the linings of the airway become inflamed, and excess mucus is produced. The irritants are believed to cause this. | ECONOMIC GROWTH CENTER YALE UNIVERSITY . Box 208629 New Haven CT 06520-8269 http egcenter CENTER DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 963 The Production of Child Health in Kenya A Structural Model of Birth Weight Germano Mwabu University of Nairobi June 2008 Notes Center discussion papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comments. I am very grateful to T. Paul Schultz for his careful guidance throughout the preparation of this paper. The paper benefitted from discussions with Michael Boozer Fabian Lange Christopher Ksoll and Christopher Udry. It was initiated and completed when I was a visitor at the Economic Growth Center Yale University during the academic year 2005 06. Helpful comments on an earlier version were received from participants at the conference on Economic Development in Africa Session E held at the University of Oxford St Catherine s College March 18-19 2007. I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation grant to Economic Growth Center of Yale University for research and training in the economics of the family in low-income countries. However I am solely responsible for any errors in the paper. Accepted for publication by the Journal of African Economies. Germano Mwabu University of Nairobi Department of Economics . Box 30197 Nairobi Kenya. Email Mwabu@ This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at http abstractM272468 An index to papers in the Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper Series is located at http egcenter The Production of Child Health in Kenya A Structural Model of Birth Weight Germano Mwabu Abstract The paper investigates birth weight and its correlates in Kenya using nationally representative data collected by the government in the early 1990s. I find that immunization of the mother against tetanus during pregnancy is strongly associated .