The Impact of Climate Variability and Conflict on Childhood Diarrhea and Malnutrition in West Africa
type: CreativeWork
description: Objectives: This dissertation aims to contribute to our understanding of how climate variability and armed conflict impacts diarrheal disease and malnutrition among young children in West Africa. Two studies examine the associations between climate and diarrheal disease across the whole study area – ten countries in West Africa during the period 2008-2013. The third study examines diarrheal disease and malnutrition in Northeast Nigeria before (2008) and after (2013) the start of the current armed conflict in the area. Methods: Outcome variables and child, caregiver, and household characteristics for these studies are from the Demographic and Health Surveys. Additional datasets include specialized products for rainfall, temperature, climate class, population density, and urban population ranking. The first two studies use geo-spatial techniques to 1) determine if there are areas of elevated risk after controlling for climatic and other covariates and 2) determine whether there is spatial variation in the associations between diarrheal disease and climatic and other covariates. The third study uses a double-difference methodology to study both diarrheal disease and malnutrition and their associations with conflict. Results: The first study found statistically significant clusters of elevated risk in 10 urban areas and 13 largely rural areas after adjusting for household and climatic factors with a relative risk range of 1.5 to 7.2. Results from the second study indicate that the associations between diarrheal disease and key household, environmental, and climatic factors vary according to location – a phenomenon which is masked by global models - and that the associations are both positive and negative (increase and decrease risk). The third study found that if children exposed to the conflict in Northeast Nigeria had not been exposed, their mean weight-for-height z-scores would be nearly half a standard deviation higher, the proportion of moderately and severely wast…
abstract: Objectives: This dissertation aims to contribute to our understanding of how climate variability and armed conflict impacts diarrheal disease and malnutrition among young children in West Africa. Two studies examine the associations between climate and diarrheal disease across the whole study area – ten countries in West Africa during the period 2008-2013. The third study examines diarrheal disease and malnutrition in Northeast Nigeria before (2008) and after (2013) the start of the current armed conflict in the area. Methods: Outcome variables and child, caregiver, and household characteristics for these studies are from the Demographic and Health Surveys. Additional datasets include specialized products for rainfall, temperature, climate class, population density, and urban population ranking. The first two studies use geo-spatial techniques to 1) determine if there are areas of elevated risk after controlling for climatic and other covariates and 2) determine whether there is spatial variation in the associations between diarrheal disease and climatic and other covariates. The third study uses a double-difference methodology to study both diarrheal disease and malnutrition and their associations with conflict. Results: The first study found statistically significant clusters of elevated risk in 10 urban areas and 13 largely rural areas after adjusting for household and climatic factors with a relative risk range of 1.5 to 7.2. Results from the second study indicate that the associations between diarrheal disease and key household, environmental, and climatic factors vary according to location – a phenomenon which is masked by global models - and that the associations are both positive and negative (increase and decrease risk). The third study found that if children exposed to the conflict in Northeast Nigeria had not been exposed, their mean weight-for-height z-scores would be nearly half a standard deviation higher, the proportion of moderately and severely wast…
author: Dunn, Gillian
keywords: Environmental Public Health, International Public Health, Maternal and Child Health, diarrhea, malnutrition, climate variability, armed conflict, West Africa
date published: 2016-02-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:00:35Z
provider: City University of New York - Graduate Center
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York