Reproductive Health, Nutritional Status, and Macroeconomic Shocks: A Multi-Level, Quasi-Natural Experimental Analysis of Food Commodity Prices

全球粮食价格上涨有可能破坏在改善妇幼保健和营养方面取得的进展。正如世界银行题为“食品价格、营养和千年发展目标”的2012年全球监测报告所总结的那样，“即使是暂时的高食品价格也会影响儿童的长期发展……如果不及早处理，看似很小的冲击可能会造成巨大的伤害。”虽然有强有力的证据表明，产妇和胎儿的营养会影响儿童的发育，但很少有证据表明生殖健康的各个方面（例如母乳喂养、新生儿死亡率）与营养食品的价格和供应有关。因此，我们的项目旨在：(1)评估粮食商品价格对生殖和儿童健康的影响，特别是对孕产妇和儿童营养、胎儿发育、新生儿死亡率和幼儿发育的影响；(2)确定可能减轻或加剧粮食价格上涨对生殖和儿童健康影响的国家、州和家庭政策对策。为了实现这些目标，该项目的初始阶段将对印度进行详细的定性和定量的多层次个案研究，然后将其扩展为对84个国家的人口和健康调查的跨国分析。该项目将把人口发展优先资源（如DFID Young Lives）与包含经济政策、食品价格、营养、生殖健康等丰富信息的多个数据源和大型监测项目结合起来。该项目将在一个多学科国际咨询团队的支持下，建立印度公共卫生基金会（PHFI）、剑桥大学和LSHTM之间的合作交流。其研究结果将通过在查塔姆研究所提议的政策研讨会和简报，以及通过在PHFI与印度利益攸关方的会议，以及通过在人口、发展和公共卫生期刊上发表文章，传播给广泛的利益攸关方。

Global food price rises threaten to undermine progress in improving maternal and child health and nutrition. As the World Bank 2012 Global Monitoring Report titled 'Food prices, nutrition, and the MDGs' concluded "Even temporarily high food prices affect the long-term development of children...seemingly small shocks can exert great damage if they are not dealt with early." While there is strong evidence that maternal and fetal nutrition affect children's development, there is relatively little evidence linking aspects of reproductive health (e.g. breastfeeding, neonatal mortality) to the price and availability of nutritious food. Thus, our project aims to:(1) Assess the effects of food commodity prices on reproductive and child health, specifically maternal and childhood nutrition, fetal development, neonatal mortality, and early-childhood development;(2) Identify national, state and household policy responses which may mitigate or exacerbate the reproductive and child-health effects of rising food prices.To fulfil these aims, the initial phase of the project will provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative multi-level, case-study of India, which will then be extended as a cross-national analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys in 84 countries. The project will combine PopDev priority resources such as DFID Young Lives with multiple data sources and large-scale surveillance projects containing rich information on economic policy, food prices, nutrition, reproductive health. The project will build a collaborative exchange between Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Cambridge, and LSHTM, supported by a multi-disciplinary international advisory team. Its findings will reach a wide group of stakeholders through a proposed policy workshop and briefs at Chatham House, as well as through meetings with Indian stakeholders at PHFI, and through publications in population, development, and public health journals.