Improved drinking water, healthier children? Evidence from Pakistan

Purpose One of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals is to ensure the availability of improved drinking water for everyone. In this study, we examine the association between access to improved drinking water at the district level and child nutritional outcomes in Pakistan.Design/methodol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of social economics Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 375 - 389
Main Authors: Javed, Rashid, Mughal, Mazhar
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 07.02.2025
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects:
Access
Arsenic
Child development
Child mortality
Children
Children & youth
Childrens health
Diarrhea
Districts
Drinking water
Estimation
Gastroenteritis
Hepatitis
Households
Infant mortality
Measurement
Nutrition
Panel data
Peer review
Peers
Polls & surveys
Rural areas
Sanitation
Spatial analysis
Standard deviation
Standard of living
Sustainable development
Tropical diseases
Typhoid
Underweight
Water districts
Water quality
Water supply
Waterborne diseases
Pakistan
I18
Pakistan
Improved water
Child development
Nutrition
C13
C23
Q25
District panel
I15
O53
J13
ISSN:0306-8293, 1758-6712
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Purpose One of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals is to ensure the availability of improved drinking water for everyone. In this study, we examine the association between access to improved drinking water at the district level and child nutritional outcomes in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach We employ district-level unbalanced panel data from Pakistan from various rounds of Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Surveys and Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys compiled by the Data4Pakistan, Pakistan District Development Portal. We examine the impact of the percentage of the population in a given district with access to clean drinking water on the percentage of stunted, underweight and wasted children in the district. The analysis proceeds in two steps. In the first step, we explore the spatial distribution of improved drinking water coverage and child development outcomes across districts. In the second step, we study their relationship by employing standard panel estimation methods and controlling for district characteristics.Findings The spatial analysis reveals the large disparity among districts and provinces in terms of improved drinking water coverage and child nutrition. The estimation results indicate that there is a significant association between the accessibility of improved drinking water and child development outcomes. The effect is significant for child stunting and underweight but not for child wasting. The impact appears to be stronger in rural districts. These findings are robust to alternate empirical strategies.Originality/value This is the first such study to examine the provision of improved drinking water at the district level in relation to child developmental outcomes in a developing country context.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2023-0739
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0306-8293
1758-6712
DOI:10.1108/IJSE-09-2023-0739