Vulnerability to Malnutrition in the West African Sahel

This study estimates marginal increase
in malnutrition for children ages 1-3 years from exposure to
an extreme shock in the West African Sahel. The study uses
knowledge of a child's birth and high resolution
spatial and temporal distribution of shocks, calculated from
the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and
satellite-based measures of rainfall and temperature to link
a child to the shock experienced in-utero. The study finds
that while around 20 percent of the children in the sample
are stunted or underweight, more than 30 percent of the
children in the sample are highly vulnerable to either form
of malnutrition.