The Production of Child Health in Kenya: A Structural Model of Birth Weight

The paper investigates birth weight and its correlates in Kenya using nationally representative data collected by the government in the early 1990s. I find that immunisation of the mother against tetanus during pregnancy is strongly associated with improvements in birth weight. Other factors significantly correlated with birth weight include age of mother at first birth and birth orders of siblings. It is further found that birth weight is positively associated with mother's age at first birth and with higher birth orders, with the firstborn child being substantially lighter than subsequent children. Newborn infants born in urban areas are heavier than those from rural areas and females are lighter than males. There is evidence suggesting that a baby born at a clinic is heavier than a newborn baby drawn randomly from the general population. Copyright 2009 The author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.