Do Community Factors have Differential Impact on the Nutrition of Boys and Girls in Rural India?

Kiran Agrahari, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Abhishek Singh, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

This paper attempts to examine gender differences in the impact of local infrastructure and prices on the nutritional outcomes of boys and girl, using National Family Health Survey-II data of India. Standardized z-scores for height for age, weight for age and weight for height are used as health indicators, while community factors include distance to Primary Health Center, distance to private clinic, availability of pharma shop, availability of anganwadi center, availability of private doctor and geographic regions. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression have been used in the present paper. The result suggests that prices of food and programmes designed to improve the access and quality of local services may reduce the impact of intra household gender bias on child nutrition, particularly in the long run. It also indicates that availability of better prices and better availability and accessibility to local health facilities, gender gaps in health outcomes are likely to diminish.