Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India

Introduction: The impact of climate change on agriculture and food security has been examined quite thoroughly by researchers globally as well as in India. While existing studies provide evidence on how climate variability affects the food security and nutrition, research examining the extent of eff...

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Autores principales: Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan, Walia, Monika, Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama, Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna, Saggurti, Niranjan
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142849
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author Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan
Walia, Monika
Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama
Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna
Saggurti, Niranjan
author_browse Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan
Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna
Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama
Saggurti, Niranjan
Walia, Monika
author_facet Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan
Walia, Monika
Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama
Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna
Saggurti, Niranjan
author_sort Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Introduction: The impact of climate change on agriculture and food security has been examined quite thoroughly by researchers globally as well as in India. While existing studies provide evidence on how climate variability affects the food security and nutrition, research examining the extent of effect vulnerability of agriculture to climate change can have on nutrition in India are scarce. This study examined a) the association between the degree of vulnerability in agriculture to climate change and child nutrition at the micro-level b) spatial effect of climate vulnerability on child nutrition, and c) the geographical hotspots of both vulnerability in agriculture to climate change and child malnutrition. Methods: The study used an index on vulnerability of agriculture to climate change and linked it to child malnutrition indicators (stunting, wasting, underweight and anaemia) from the National Family Health Survey 4 (2015–16). Mixed-effect and spatial autoregressive models were fitted to assess the direction and strength of the relationship between vulnerability and child malnutrition at macro and micro level. Spatial analyses examined the within-district and across-district spill-over effects of climate change vulnerability on child malnutrition. Results: Both mixed-effect and spatial autoregressive models found that the degree of vulnerability was positively associated with malnutrition among children. Children residing in districts with a very high degree of vulnerability were more like to have malnutrition than those residing in districts with very low vulnerability. The analyses found that the odds of a child suffering from stunting increased by 32%, wasting by 42%, underweight by 45%, and anaemia by 63% if the child belonged to a district categorised as very highly vulnerable when compared to those categorised as very low. The spatial analysis also suggested a high level of clustering in the spatial distribution of vulnerability and malnutrition. Hotspots of child malnutrition and degree of vulnerability were mostly found to be clustered around western-central part of India. Conclusion: Study highlights the consequences that vulnerability of agriculture to climate change can have on child nutrition. Strategies should be developed to mitigate the effect of climate change on areas where there is a clustering of vulnerability and child malnutrition.
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spelling CGSpace1428492025-02-19T13:42:10Z Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan Walia, Monika Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna Saggurti, Niranjan climate vulnerability child health agriculture malnutrition nutrition children climate change Introduction: The impact of climate change on agriculture and food security has been examined quite thoroughly by researchers globally as well as in India. While existing studies provide evidence on how climate variability affects the food security and nutrition, research examining the extent of effect vulnerability of agriculture to climate change can have on nutrition in India are scarce. This study examined a) the association between the degree of vulnerability in agriculture to climate change and child nutrition at the micro-level b) spatial effect of climate vulnerability on child nutrition, and c) the geographical hotspots of both vulnerability in agriculture to climate change and child malnutrition. Methods: The study used an index on vulnerability of agriculture to climate change and linked it to child malnutrition indicators (stunting, wasting, underweight and anaemia) from the National Family Health Survey 4 (2015–16). Mixed-effect and spatial autoregressive models were fitted to assess the direction and strength of the relationship between vulnerability and child malnutrition at macro and micro level. Spatial analyses examined the within-district and across-district spill-over effects of climate change vulnerability on child malnutrition. Results: Both mixed-effect and spatial autoregressive models found that the degree of vulnerability was positively associated with malnutrition among children. Children residing in districts with a very high degree of vulnerability were more like to have malnutrition than those residing in districts with very low vulnerability. The analyses found that the odds of a child suffering from stunting increased by 32%, wasting by 42%, underweight by 45%, and anaemia by 63% if the child belonged to a district categorised as very highly vulnerable when compared to those categorised as very low. The spatial analysis also suggested a high level of clustering in the spatial distribution of vulnerability and malnutrition. Hotspots of child malnutrition and degree of vulnerability were mostly found to be clustered around western-central part of India. Conclusion: Study highlights the consequences that vulnerability of agriculture to climate change can have on child nutrition. Strategies should be developed to mitigate the effect of climate change on areas where there is a clustering of vulnerability and child malnutrition. 2021-06-28 2024-05-22T12:11:10Z 2024-05-22T12:11:10Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142849 en Open Access Public Library of Science Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan; Walia, Monika; Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama; Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna; and Saggurti, Niranjan. 2021. Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0253637. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253637
spellingShingle climate
vulnerability
child health
agriculture
malnutrition
nutrition
children
climate change
Mahapatra, Bidhubhusan
Walia, Monika
Rao, Chitiprolu Anantha Rama
Raju, Bellapukonda Murali Krishna
Saggurti, Niranjan
Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India
title Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India
title_full Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India
title_fullStr Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India
title_full_unstemmed Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India
title_short Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition: Evidence from a large-scale observational study in India
title_sort vulnerability of agriculture to climate change increases the risk of child malnutrition evidence from a large scale observational study in india
topic climate
vulnerability
child health
agriculture
malnutrition
nutrition
children
climate change
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142849
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