Modeling the potential impacts of improved monthly income on child stunting in India: A subnational geospatial perspective

Abstract

Objectives Approximately one-third of the world's stunted (low height-for-age) preschool-aged children live in India. The success of interventions designed to tackle stunting appears to vary by location and depth of poverty. We developed small-area estimation models to assess the potential impact of increments in household income on stunting across the country. Design Two nationally representative cross-sectional datasets were used: India's National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-2016) and the 68th round of the National Sample Survey on consumer expenditure. The two datasets were combined with statistical matching. Gaussian process regressions were used to perform geospatial modelling of stunting' controlling for household wealth and other covariates. Setting and participants The number of children in this sample totalled 259 627. Children with implausible height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) >5 or