THE EFFECTS OF IMPROVED NUTRITION, SANITATION, AND WATER-QUALITY ON CHILD HEALTH IN HIGH-MORTALITY POPULATIONS

A framework is set out for estimating the effects of interventions on child health that considers changes in the allocation of family resour ces, who among children survive (survival selectivity), and changes in the health of surviving children net of family resources. Estimates b ased on structural-equations semi-parametric models applied to data de scribing households from rural areas of two low-income countries indic ate that conventional reduced-form estimates understate the effectiven ess of improving sanitation facilities. This is due to the reduced all ocation of household resources to children in households with better f acilities but not to mortality selection, which is negligible.