Crises and Child Health Outcomes: The Impacts of Financial and Drought/smoke Crises on Child Mortality and Birthweight in Indonesia

Pungpond Rukumnuaykit, Michigan State University

Short-term impacts of the crises were examined using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS). We find that the financial crisis had adverse effects on neonatal mortality in both urban and rural areas. The effects on post-neonatal mortality were felt only by urban infants. In rural areas, the drought/smoke crises had more adverse effects on post-neonatal mortality than the financial crisis. The crisis effects are larger after controlling for community fixed-effects. Infants of highly educated mothers suffered from the financial crisis in urban areas, while those of less educated mothers suffered from the drought/smoke crises in rural areas. In both urban and rural areas, neither crises adversely affected birthweight. However, this result is subject to selection problems in reported birthweights because only half of infants born at home were weighed. We find that some mothers switched from hospital to home delivery during the crises, which causes further selection problems.