Child Rights, Traditions and Health Seeking Behavior in Nigeria

Hamad Mahar

No ty35q, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of granting formal legal protection to children on their health by studying the impact of the Child Rights Act in Nigeria. Using a Difference in Differences model that is robust to the staggered adoption of this reform across states, I show that granting formal protection to children leads to a reduction in stunting and has limited positive effects on vaccinations. I provide suggestive evidence that the mechanism behind these results is a change in the demand of care by parents. These findings suggest that secular laws which grant protection improve outcomes for children in a society where harmful traditions persist.

Date: 2024-01-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev and nep-hea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:ty35q

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ty35q

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