Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Sanitation on Childhood Cognitive Skills : Evidence from India's Total Sanitation Campaign
Early life health and net nutrition shape childhood and adult cognitive skills and human capital. In poor countries -- and especially in South Asia -- widespread open defecation without making use of a toilet or latrine is an important source of ch...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/10/18403894/effects-early-life-exposure-sanitation-childhood-cognitive-skills-evidence-indias-total-sanitation-campaign http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16872 |
| Summary: | Early life health and net nutrition
shape childhood and adult cognitive skills and human
capital. In poor countries -- and especially in South Asia
-- widespread open defecation without making use of a toilet
or latrine is an important source of childhood disease. This
paper studies the effects on childhood cognitive achievement
of early life exposure to India's Total Sanitation
Campaign, a large government program that encouraged local
governments to build and promote use of inexpensive pit
latrines. In the early years of the program studied here,
the TSC caused six-year-olds exposed to it in their first
year of life to be more likely to recognize letters and
simple numbers. The results suggest both that open
defecation is an important threat to the human capital of
the Indian labor force, and that a program feasible to low
capacity governments in developing countries could improve
average cognitive skills. |
|---|