Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229378 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2020/154
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
Stunted growth in early life has serious implications for children and is a wellestablished constraint to productivity, life expectancy, and cognitive development. This paper evaluates the relative contributions of household resources and public service delivery in reducing the orphan-stunting penalty-the higher likelihood of orphans to be stunted. The results indicate that the effects of access to sanitation significantly reduce this penalty. Moreover, sanitation is at least as important as private wealth in reducing the penalty while access to other services is not. The results indicate that co-ordination of services and economies of scale, as well as regional herd immunity in stopping diarrhoea among children, could play an important role in providing lasting solutions to stunting more generally and orphan vulnerability in particular. This evidence is crucial as a case study in understanding how best to care for vulnerable children in South Africa but also for developing countries.
Subjects: 
orphan
vulnerable children
stunting
sanitation
South Africa
JEL: 
I14
I15
I38
C21
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-911-2
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.