Looking upstream: enhancers of child nutritional status in post-flood rural settings
PeerJ, March 2016, doi:10.7717/peerj.1741
As part of an integrated project to investigate the health, social, and economic impacts of disasters, this article presents the results of a representative survey conducted in 2009 of children affected and non-affected by 2008 Odisha floods in 265 communities. To get further insight into prevention strategies for the health impacts of floods, which are absent in the literature, it also examines the effect of maternal and paternal education and other risk factors on stunting and wasting in children from families living in flooded and non-flooded communities.
Conclusions from the study show that in the short-term, protracted nutritional response in the aftermath of floods should be urgently implemented and target agricultural livelihoods and low-rank castes. Education promotion and schooling up to 14 years should have positive impacts on improving children nutritional health in the long run, especially under flooding. Policies effectively helping sustainable livelihood economic development and delayed motherhood are also recommended in the article.