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Water Quality Awareness and Breastfeeding: Evidence of Health Behavior Change in Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Pinar Keskin

    (Wellesley College)

  • Gauri Kartini Shastry

    (Wellesley College)

  • Helen Willis

    (University of California-Berkeley)

Abstract

Decades of campaigns have cautioned households in Bangladesh about waterborne contaminants such as arsenic. In addition to switching water sources, mothers can protect young children from contaminated water by breastfeeding longer. We exploit time series variation in whether children were born before or after a nationwide information campaign and geographic variation in exposure to arsenic. We find that mothers breast-feed children longer in response to the campaign, especially when they have less access to uncontaminated wells, and that infants are more likely to be exclusively breast-fed. We find consistent evidence of lower mortality rates and diarrheal incidence for infants.

Suggested Citation

  • Pinar Keskin & Gauri Kartini Shastry & Helen Willis, 2017. "Water Quality Awareness and Breastfeeding: Evidence of Health Behavior Change in Bangladesh," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(2), pages 265-280, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:99:y:2017:i:2:p:265-280
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ricardo Maertens & Alessandro Tarozzi & Kazi Matin Ahmed & Alexander van Geen, 2018. "Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh," Working Papers id:12934, eSocialSciences.
    2. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2022. "The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Evan Plous Kresch, 2020. "The Buck Stops Where? Federalism, Uncertainty, and Investment in the Brazilian Water and Sanitation Sector," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 374-401, August.
    4. Patricia I. Ritter & Ricardo A. Sanchez, 2023. "The effects of an epidemic on prenatal investments, childhood mortality and health of surviving children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 505-544, January.
    5. Sonia R. Bhalotra & Alberto Diaz-Cayeros & Grant Miller & Alfonso Miranda & Atheendar S. Venkataramani, 2017. "Urban Water Disinfection and Mortality Decline in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 23239, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Debayan Pakrashi & Surya Nath Maiti & Sarani Saha, 2022. "Caste, Awareness and Inequality in Access to Maternal and Child Health Programs: Evidence From India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1301-1321, October.
    7. Matthew Krupoff & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Alexander van Geen, 2020. "Evaluating Strategies to Reduce Arsenic Poisoning in South Asia: A View from the Social Sciences," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 37(2), pages 21-44, September.
    8. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Singh, Prachi, 2023. "Information Campaign on Arsenic Poisoning: Unintended Consequences in Marriage Market," IZA Discussion Papers 16214, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Patricia I. Ritter, 2019. "The Effect of Piped Water at Home on Childhood Overweight Rate. Experimental Evidence from Urban Morocco," Working papers 2019-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2021.

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