The Determinants of Health and Nutrition of Children Under. Five in Ghana.

Abstract

This study examines the determinants of health and nutrition of children under five in Ghana using data on 2127 children and their households drawn from the Ghana Living Standards Survey in 1987/88 (GLSS I). The study reveals that Ghanaian children of 0 to 59 months obtain 82.7 percent of the recommended required daily allowance of calorie intake. Also the children weighed 9.9 percent higher than the recommended weight of 12.0 kg. It was further shown that the level of undernutrition of children under-five has not changed since 1980. About 29.5 percent of children are chronically undernourished, 27.2 percent are underweight and 7.1 percent are acutely undernourished. ,, Empirical results show that a 10 percent increases in income (proxied by total expenditure), household size in adult equivalent, relative prices of millet, garri, cocoyam and plantain to maize result in an increase of 9.56 percent, 0.73 percent, 5.45 percent, 6.04 percent, 3.33 percent and 3.45 percent of food available to the household, respectively. Similarly, a 10 percent increase in the relative prices of yam, cassava and guinea corn to maize result in a decrease in food availability to the household by 21.29 percent, 10.46 percent and 2.97 percent, respectively. The study further shows that food intake of the child and the genetic factors of parents have important roles in the determination of the health condition of children with elasticities of 0.019 and 0.445 respectively. Policy experiments with household expenditure, household size in adult equivalent, price of cassava and price of maize showed that percentage changes in the mean expenditures give the greatest impact on the food available to the child while percentage changes in the mean hous.ehold size in adult equivalent give the least impact.