Gendered impacts of the 2007-08 food price crisis: Evidence using panel data from rural Ethiopia

This paper provides empirical evidence on the gendered impact of the 2007–08 food price crisis using panel data on 1,400 households from rural Ethiopia that were initially surveyed before the onset of the crisis, in 1994–95, 1997, and 2004, and after food prices spiked, in 2009. It investigates whether female-headed households are more likely to report experiencing a food price shock, and whether female-headed households experiencing a shock are more (or less) likely to adopt certain coping strategies, controlling for individual, household, and community characteristics. Our findings suggest that female-headed households are more vulnerable to food price changes and are more likely to have experienced a food price shock in 2007–08. Because female-headed households are also resource poor and have a larger food gap compared with male-headed households, they cope by cutting back on the number of meals they provide their households during good months and eating less preferred foods in general. Our findings that land—particularly better quality land—has a protective effect against food price shocks also highlight the role of strengthening land rights of the poor, particularly poor women, to enable them to cope better with food price increases.coping mechanisms, food price crisis, Gender,

Access, adoption, and diffusion

This paper assesses long-term impacts of vegetable and polyculture fish production technologies on a variety of measures of household and individual well-being in Bangladesh. In 1996–1997, households were surveyed in three sites where nongovernmental organizations and extension programs were disseminating agricultural technologies—about two to six years after the technologies were first introduced. The same households were reinterviewed in 2006–2007. Using nearest-neighbor matching to construct a statistical comparison group, we find that long-term impacts differ across agricultural technology interventions and across outcomes. Long-term impacts on household-level consumption expenditures and asset accumulation are, in general, insignificant in the improved vegetables sites, but are positive and significant in the individually operated fishponds sites. Interestingly, impacts on individual nutrient intake, nutrient adequacy, and nutritional status do not necessarily follow the pattern of household-level impacts. The improved vegetable program, despite insignificant or even negative impacts at the household level, seems to have resulted in increases in vitamin A consumption (and iron consumption for men), an increase in average weight-for-age Z-scores among children, and a reduction in the proportion of girls stunted and the proportion of boys underweight. Women in the improved vegetable program also experienced increases in body mass index. Impacts in the group-operated fishponds sites on nutrient intake are mostly negative, although we do find improvements in weight-for-age Z-scores and a decline in stunting and wasting among boys. Although one would expect significant improvements in nutritional status in the individually operated fishponds sites, impacts on nutritional status are mixed. Nutrient availability and the fraction of members consuming the recommended daily allowances have improved significantly for most nutrients considered, among men and women. Although indicators of long-term nutritional status worsen, short-term nutritional status indicators improve. The fraction of women with low hemoglobin levels also decreases significantly. We argue that the differences in long-term and short-term impacts arise from several causes: differences in dissemination and targeting mechanisms that may affect what types of households adopt and benefit from the technologies; initial existing differences between control and treatment groups (controlled for using matching methods); the degree to which a technology is divisible and easily disseminated outside the treatment group; and finally, intrahousehold allocation processes that determine how gains from the new technology are allocated among household members.agricultural technology adoption, long-term impacts, Nutrition,

Adoption of weather index insurance: Learning from willingness to pay among a panel of households in rural Ethiopia

In this paper we examine which farmers would be early entrants into weather index insurance markets in Ethiopia, were such markets to develop on a large scale. We do this by examining the determinants of willingness to pay for weather insurance among 1,400 Ethiopian households that have been tracked for 15 years as part of the Ethiopia Rural Household Survey. This provides both historical and current information with which to assess the determinants of demand. We find that educated, rich, and proactive individuals were more likely to purchase insurance. Risk aversion was associated with low insurance take-up, suggesting that models of technology adoption can inform the purchase and spread of weather index insurance. We also assess how willingness to pay varied as two key characteristics of the contract were varied and find that basis risk reduced demand for insurance, particularly when the price of the contract was high, and that provision of insurance through groups was preferred by women and individuals with lower levels of education.index-insurance, Risk, Willingness to pay (WTP),

Evaluating the long-term impact of antipoverty interventions in Bangladesh: An overview

This paper provides an overview of a research project that assessed the long-term impact of three antipoverty interventions in Bangladesh—the introduction of new agricultural technologies, educational transfers, and microfinance—on monetary and nonmonetary measures of well-being. This paper begins by setting out the conceptual framework, methodology, and empirical methods used for the evaluation of long-term impacts. It discusses the context of the evaluations and the longitudinal data used. Key findings from the individual papers are then presented, followed by an indicative analysis of the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. The overview concludes with implications for programs and policy.antipoverty interventions, Impact evaluation, long-term impact,

Do shocks affect men's and women's assets differently?: A review of literature and new evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda

This background paper attempts to expand our understanding of the gender-differentiated impact of shocks on assets through a literature review on shocks and gendered asset dynamics and an analysis of new panel data (2007 and 2009) from Uganda and Bangladesh looking at the impact of negative shocks and positive events on men's and women's assets. We take advantage of detailed assets and shocks modules to disaggregate the type of shock between covariate and idiosyncratic shocks and types of assets according to ownership (joint, husband's, and wife's assets). We also consider the impact of life-cycle events such as dowry payments and receipts, and inheritance. Estimation of an asset accumulation regression as a function of covariate and idiosyncratic shocks, with controls for baseline characteristics and asset stocks, finds that although many shocks are similar in both countries, commonly experienced shocks do not necessarily have the same effects across countries and on men's, women's, and jointly owned assets within countries. Land and assets in general were relatively well insured against food price increases in Bangladesh, but jointly held assets and wives' assets in Uganda were negatively affected. Weather shocks negatively impact husbands' assets and wives' assets in Bangladesh and Uganda, respectively. Reflecting differences in country and context, dowry and wedding expenses took their toll on wives' land in Bangladesh, and illness shocks also had a large detrimental impact on wives' assets in Bangladesh, while death negatively affected wives' assets in Uganda. Within households, however, it appears that in Bangladesh, husbands' land and assets were more negatively affected by covariate shocks relative to wives' assets, whereas in Uganda, husbands' assets were relatively protected against covariate shocks relative to wives' assets.Shocks, Gender, assets,

A prospective study of outcome in infertility patients diagnosed with genital tuberculosis

Background: Tuberculosis is an increasing health problem worldwide with around 9.6 billion new cases reported every year. Female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) has a varying incidence ranging from a very low of 0.69% in developed nations to as high as 19% in developing nations like India. The average incidence of infertility due to tuberculosis is 5-10% worldwide.Methods: The study was a hospital based prospective clinical study, from September 2014-2017 with sample size of 355 infertility cases. Endometrial sampling and diagnostic hystero-laparoscopy were used for diagnosis. Endometrial sample subjected for both the test CBNAAT and HPR was used for confirmation of positive patients. Inclusion criteria were, infertile patients diagnosed with genital tuberculosis who were then given treatment. Patients diagnosed to have infertility due to causes other than TB were excluded from the study. Highly suspected cases and those who were willing underwent diagnostic laparoscopy.Results: Out of 355 cases of infertility, 83 were because of genital TB, received treatment out of which 32 conceived.  CBNAAT was very sensitive than histopathology or laparoscopy. The live birth rate and conception rate were 20.24% and 38.09 % respectively.Conclusions: CBNAAT is OPD based economical test (free by GOI), very sensitive and picked up more cases than histopathology or laparoscopy. The live birth rate and conception rate were found to be higher than other studies possible due to intervention at an earlier stage of the disease process. This test should be widely used by gynecologist for early detection of genital tuberculosis