Breastfeeding and Child Health in Uganda
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Date
2020-12-10
Authors
Bbaale, Edward
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research consortium
Abstract
The study set out to estimate the effect of breastfeeding on child mortality and stunting.
We used nationally representative Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) of
2011 merged with the community section of the Uganda National Household Survey
(UNHS) of 2012/13 to include community variables, such as distance to the health
facility, that are potential instrumental variables. We used various techniques: ordinary
least squares (OLS), Instrumental Variables (IV) approach and control function during
the analysis. We found that breastfeeding reduced child mortality but was weakly
associated with child stunting. Just as previous literature documents, the OLS estimate
of the coefficient on breastfeeding was biased downwards compared to the IV and
control function estimates. Health knowledge was important in influencing child
mortality. Government efforts towards sensitizing citizens about the importance of
breastfeeding should be strengthened. Additionally, government needs to prioritize
dissemination of health knowledge to women of reproductive age who are no longer in
school. Furthermore, school curricula should be improved to include communication
of health knowledge to students during early education to mitigate poor child health
outcomes for future generations.
Description
Keywords
Breastfeeding , child stunting , child mortality