Rising income or wealth or reduction in poverty

Economic growth and antipoverty programs in Peru brought with them several improvements in health and other social goals.

Literature Review

Multiple views exist regarding the role of economic growth on Peru’s improvements in child nutrition. One study suggests that economic growth accounted for up to 50 percent of the reduction in stunting nationally.¹

Other studies highlight the role of growth but note that it was not the sole contributor to stunting decline. ^{2 3}

Quantitative Analysis

Poverty line significantly influenced stunting prevalence in the expected direction after adjusting for time and covariables across all time periods analyzed. For the 2000-2016 time period significance level is high (p-value <0.0001), but the effect size of 0.08 is small.

Income (log GDP per capita) and GINI coefficient did not appear to be significant in explaining stunting prevalence decline.

According to the decomposition analysis, wealth index was a negligible predictor of HAZ change. Neither poverty line nor GINI coefficient was significant.

Qualitative Analysis

Sustained economic growth was noted as an important contextual factor that facilitated implementation of programs that targeted stunting.

Conclusion

When other effects are controlled for, rising household income and wealth may or may not have a significant effect on stunting. However, at the national level, income growth and reductions in poverty likely did impact stunting prevalence. Increased income allowed the Peruvian government to spend more on social welfare programs which had a direct impact on stunting.

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