Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya
The U.S. is the main country in the world that delivers its food assistance primarily via transoceanic shipments of commodity-based in-kind food. This approach is costlier and less timely than cash-based assistance, which includes cash transfers, food vouchers, and local and regional procurement, wh...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Public Library of Science
2016
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129487 |
| _version_ | 1855517484219629568 |
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| author | Nikulkov, Alex Barrett, Christopher B. Mude, Andrew G. Wein, Lawrence M. |
| author_browse | Barrett, Christopher B. Mude, Andrew G. Nikulkov, Alex Wein, Lawrence M. |
| author_facet | Nikulkov, Alex Barrett, Christopher B. Mude, Andrew G. Wein, Lawrence M. |
| author_sort | Nikulkov, Alex |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The U.S. is the main country in the world that delivers its food assistance primarily via transoceanic shipments of commodity-based in-kind food. This approach is costlier and less timely than cash-based assistance, which includes cash transfers, food vouchers, and local and regional procurement, where food is bought in or nearby the recipient country. The U.S.’s approach is exacerbated by a requirement that half of its transoceanic food shipments need to be sent on U.S.-flag vessels. We estimate the effect of these U.S. food assistance distribution policies on child mortality in northern Kenya by formulating and optimizing a supply chain model. In our model, monthly orders of transoceanic shipments and cash-based interventions are chosen to minimize child mortality subject to an annual budget constraint and to policy constraints on the allowable proportions of cash-based interventions and non-US-flag shipments. By varying the restrictiveness of these policy constraints, we assess the impact of possible changes in U.S. food aid policies on child mortality. The model includes an existing regression model that uses household survey data and geospatial data to forecast the mean mid-upper-arm circumference Z scores among children in a community, and allows food assistance to increase Z scores, and Z scores to influence mortality rates. We find that cash-based interventions are a much more powerful policy lever than the U.S.-flag vessel requirement: switching to cash-based interventions reduces child mortality from 4.4% to 3.7% (a 16.2% relative reduction) in our model, whereas eliminating the U.S.-flag vessel restriction without increasing the use of cash-based interventions generates a relative reduction in child mortality of only 1.1%. The great majority of the gains achieved by cash-based interventions are due to their reduced cost, not their reduced delivery lead times; i.e., the reduction of shipping expenses allows for more food to be delivered, which reduces child mortality. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace129487 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| publisherStr | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1294872024-08-27T10:35:03Z Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya Nikulkov, Alex Barrett, Christopher B. Mude, Andrew G. Wein, Lawrence M. policies mortality kenya food The U.S. is the main country in the world that delivers its food assistance primarily via transoceanic shipments of commodity-based in-kind food. This approach is costlier and less timely than cash-based assistance, which includes cash transfers, food vouchers, and local and regional procurement, where food is bought in or nearby the recipient country. The U.S.’s approach is exacerbated by a requirement that half of its transoceanic food shipments need to be sent on U.S.-flag vessels. We estimate the effect of these U.S. food assistance distribution policies on child mortality in northern Kenya by formulating and optimizing a supply chain model. In our model, monthly orders of transoceanic shipments and cash-based interventions are chosen to minimize child mortality subject to an annual budget constraint and to policy constraints on the allowable proportions of cash-based interventions and non-US-flag shipments. By varying the restrictiveness of these policy constraints, we assess the impact of possible changes in U.S. food aid policies on child mortality. The model includes an existing regression model that uses household survey data and geospatial data to forecast the mean mid-upper-arm circumference Z scores among children in a community, and allows food assistance to increase Z scores, and Z scores to influence mortality rates. We find that cash-based interventions are a much more powerful policy lever than the U.S.-flag vessel requirement: switching to cash-based interventions reduces child mortality from 4.4% to 3.7% (a 16.2% relative reduction) in our model, whereas eliminating the U.S.-flag vessel restriction without increasing the use of cash-based interventions generates a relative reduction in child mortality of only 1.1%. The great majority of the gains achieved by cash-based interventions are due to their reduced cost, not their reduced delivery lead times; i.e., the reduction of shipping expenses allows for more food to be delivered, which reduces child mortality. 2016-12-20 2023-03-10T14:36:37Z 2023-03-10T14:36:37Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129487 en Open Access Public Library of Science Nikulkov, Alex; Barrett, Christopher B.; Mude, Andrew G.; Wein, Lawrence M. 2016. Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya. PLOS ONE 11: e0168432 |
| spellingShingle | policies mortality kenya food Nikulkov, Alex Barrett, Christopher B. Mude, Andrew G. Wein, Lawrence M. Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya |
| title | Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya |
| title_full | Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya |
| title_short | Assessing the Impact of U.S. Food Assistance Delivery Policies on Child Mortality in Northern Kenya |
| title_sort | assessing the impact of u s food assistance delivery policies on child mortality in northern kenya |
| topic | policies mortality kenya food |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129487 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nikulkovalex assessingtheimpactofusfoodassistancedeliverypoliciesonchildmortalityinnorthernkenya AT barrettchristopherb assessingtheimpactofusfoodassistancedeliverypoliciesonchildmortalityinnorthernkenya AT mudeandrewg assessingtheimpactofusfoodassistancedeliverypoliciesonchildmortalityinnorthernkenya AT weinlawrencem assessingtheimpactofusfoodassistancedeliverypoliciesonchildmortalityinnorthernkenya |