TY - JOUR
T1 - Internal migration and child health in Malawi
AU - Anglewicz, Philip
AU - Kidman, Rachel
AU - Madhavan, Sangeetha
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Invest in Knowledge Initiative, which collected data for the MHM and MLSFH. We are also very grateful to the reviewers for their very insightful and helpful comments. This research was funded by National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) (MHM Grant No. R21HD071471-01; MLSFH Grant Nos. R03 HD05 8976, R21 HD050652, R01 HD044228, R01 HD053781, and R24 HD-044964).
Funding Information:
The authors thank Invest in Knowledge Initiative, which collected data for the MHM and MLSFH. We are also very grateful to the reviewers for their very insightful and helpful comments. This research was funded by National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) (MHM Grant No. R21HD071471-01 ; MLSFH Grant Nos. R03 HD05 8976 , R21 HD050652 , R01 HD044228 , R01 HD053781 , and R24 HD-044964 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - A strong and consistent association between migration and health has been found in many settings, but the overwhelming focus of this research has been on adults. In addition, identifying the effect of migration on health largely remains an unresolved challenge, due in part to the inability to distinguish between the effect of migration on health and the selection of children of differing health status into migration streams. In this research we examine the relationship between internal migration and child health in Malawi. We use longitudinal panel data with pre- and post-migration health measures for children and their mothers, which permits us to measure both migration health selection and the effect of migration on health. We also examine if child health changes over time in post-migration destinations. We do not find evidence of migration health selection: children who move have similar pre-migration health status to non-migrant children. We find that the impact of migration on child health is mediated by mothers' characteristics. Before controlling for mothers' health status, we find a strong negative impact of migration on health, particularly for children moving to rural areas or cities, and children moving due to changes in mothers' marital status. After controlling for mothers' health status, however, the negative impact of migration on child health disappears. We also find that child health is worse with longer durations spent in post-migration residence, compared to children who don't move.
AB - A strong and consistent association between migration and health has been found in many settings, but the overwhelming focus of this research has been on adults. In addition, identifying the effect of migration on health largely remains an unresolved challenge, due in part to the inability to distinguish between the effect of migration on health and the selection of children of differing health status into migration streams. In this research we examine the relationship between internal migration and child health in Malawi. We use longitudinal panel data with pre- and post-migration health measures for children and their mothers, which permits us to measure both migration health selection and the effect of migration on health. We also examine if child health changes over time in post-migration destinations. We do not find evidence of migration health selection: children who move have similar pre-migration health status to non-migrant children. We find that the impact of migration on child health is mediated by mothers' characteristics. Before controlling for mothers' health status, we find a strong negative impact of migration on health, particularly for children moving to rural areas or cities, and children moving due to changes in mothers' marital status. After controlling for mothers' health status, however, the negative impact of migration on child health disappears. We also find that child health is worse with longer durations spent in post-migration residence, compared to children who don't move.
KW - Child health
KW - Migration
KW - Selection
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U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112389
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112389
M3 - Article
C2 - 31279254
AN - SCOPUS:85068224917
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 235
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 112389
ER -