Ghassan Shakhshir
Palestine
Title: The chronic water stress and early childhood development, establishing the link and implications for policy and practice
Biography
Biography: Ghassan Shakhshir
Abstract
‘Introduction The proportion of the Palestinian children who are not on track in their early development is higher than that among their peers in neighboring countries. This study aimed to assess and explain the association between unimproved water supply and early childhood development, and examine its implication for policy and programmes in Palestine.
Method Demographic and health data obtained from nationally representative surveys were merged and analyzed. Descriptive analysis was used to investigate the magnitude and patterns of inadequate access to running water from household tap and its association with early childhood development in Palestine.
A causal mediation model was used to assess the pathways through which access to domestic water supply interacts with poverty, and affects early childhood development. Data were analyzed using the structural sequential method, and the potential outcome framework, while the confounders (such as age, sex, mother education) were controlled for using bootstrapping and propensity matching tests.
Ecological data about multidimensional socioeconomic, health, and environmental conditions in 52 communities in West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza were gathered. Data were analyzed using z score (level of dispersion), to develop a single summary measure capturing the multidimensional influence of water supply on children’s wellbeing and development.
Findings Inadequate access to water supply might influence early childhood development through causal pathways of inadequate poverty. For one standard deviation increase in access to unimproved water supply, a 0.308 increase is predicted for the prevalence of child under-development through indirect effect mediated by poverty, and a 0.084 increase due to direct effect.
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The Ecological data indicated the average z of unimproved water supply variables in the target communities could be indicative of possible low scores of early childhood development.
CDI: Child development index, Water: z score of water supply variables
Interpretation Inadequate water supply might exacerbate the negative effects of poverty and inadequate family care on early childhood health and development. These findings suggests that holistic perspectives are needed in systems and interventions to monitor child wellbeing and development.‘Introduction The proportion of the Palestinian children who are not on track in their early development is higher than that among their peers in neighboring countries. This study aimed to assess and explain the association between unimproved water supply and early childhood development, and examine its implication for policy and programmes in Palestine.
Method Demographic and health data obtained from nationally representative surveys were merged and analyzed. Descriptive analysis was used to investigate the magnitude and patterns of inadequate access to running water from household tap and its association with early childhood development in Palestine.
A causal mediation model was used to assess the pathways through which access to domestic water supply interacts with poverty, and affects early childhood development. Data were analyzed using the structural sequential method, and the potential outcome framework, while the confounders (such as age, sex, mother education) were controlled for using bootstrapping and propensity matching tests.
Ecological data about multidimensional socioeconomic, health, and environmental conditions in 52 communities in West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza were gathered. Data were analyzed using z score (level of dispersion), to develop a single summary measure capturing the multidimensional influence of water supply on children’s wellbeing and development.
Findings Inadequate access to water supply might influence early childhood development through causal pathways of inadequate poverty. For one standard deviation increase in access to unimproved water supply, a 0.308 increase is predicted for the prevalence of child under-development through indirect effect mediated by poverty, and a 0.084 increase due to direct effect.
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The Ecological data indicated the average z of unimproved water supply variables in the target communities could be indicative of possible low scores of early childhood development.
CDI: Child development index, Water: z score of water supply variables
Interpretation Inadequate water supply might exacerbate the negative effects of poverty and inadequate family care on early childhood health and development. These findings suggests that holistic perspectives are needed in systems and interventions to monitor child wellbeing and development.