State of World Population 2012 - UNFPA Haiti

empirical evidence supporting this theory hasso far proved to be elusive, largely because of thelong time lags between the times that these outcomesare observed.Further evidence in support of the relationshipbetween mother’s health, a child’s health and hisor her participation in the labour force comesfrom the studies of maternal nutrition. Thesestudies demonstrate that declines in fertility andimprovements in maternal health are associatedwith not only improved child health, improvedcognitive test scores and schooling attainmentbut also improved occupational status and earnings,reduced non-participation in the labourforce, reduced chronic disease and disabilitybefore the age of 50, and more notably thereafter(Miguel and Kremer, 2004; Almond 2006;Almond, Edlund, et al., 2007; Almond andMazumder, 2008; Almond and Currie, 2011).One recent study used data on monozygotictwins to estimate the effect of intrauterinenutrient intake on adult health and earningsfound that health conditions play a majorrole in determining the world distribution ofincome (Behrman and Rosenzweig, 2004).The study showed considerable variation in theincidence of low birth weight across countries,and that there are real payoffs to increasingbody weight at birth. Increasing birth weightincreases adult schooling attainment and adultheight for babies at most levels of birth weight.They also find evidence that augmenting birthweight among lower-birth weight babies, butnot among higher-birth weight babies, hassignificant labour market payoffs.Reproductive health and the wealth andwell-being of householdsThere are several routes through which fertilitydecline and improved health may be translatedinto better household social and economicwell-being (Bloom and Canning, 2000;Birdsall, Kelley and Sinding, 2001; Schultz,2008; Sinding, 2009). First, as documentedearlier, healthier people work more and arephysically and cognitively stronger, and, thusmore productive and earn higher incomesand accumulate more assets. Second, healthierpeople enjoy a longer life expectancy, and thushave greater opportunities to invest in, andreap returns from, their schooling and humancapital more broadly. This positive relationshipbetween health and wealth is further reinforcedby low fertility and the quantity-qualitytMobile health clinic inSri Lanka.©UNFPA/FPASLTHE STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 201279