Long-Term Effects of Civil Conflict on Women’s Health Outcomes in Peru

• Published in: World development Vol. 54; pp. 139 - 155
• Main Authors: Grimard, F., Laszlo, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2014; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: armed conflict; Body Height; Body Weight; Conflict; Demographics; Education; Emotional abuse; Family Violence; fetal origins; Health; Health policy; Health surveys; Impact analysis; Indexes; life-course models; Long term; Mental health; Peru; Public Health; Sociodemographic Factors; Studies; Wealth; Women; Womens health; Womens Health Care; Peru; ISE, Peru; life-course models; health; armed conflict; fetal origins; Peru
• ISSN: 0305-750X; 1873-5991
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.08.004

•We analyze the long term health effects of early life exposure to civil conflict.•We find long lasting impacts on women’s height.•The result is robust to controling for socioeconomic status.•We find no long-term effect on anemia and BMI, nor on psychosocial indicators. Peru’s internal conflict resulted in over 69,000 deaths and disappearances from 1980 to 2000. We investigate the long-term health effects on women exposed to this conflict in utero and in early life. Utilizing recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) and district-level conflict data, we find that exposure in utero has long lasting impacts on a woman’s height (an indicator of long-term health), even controlling for life-cycle factors (education and wealth) and the availability of public health centers. We find no long-term effects on short term health (anemia and Body Mass Index (BMI)) or psychosocial indicators (domestic abuse).