Changes in Household and Child Nutritional Status and Their Determinants in a Transition Economy: Evidence from Vietnamese Panel Data

This study investigates the changes in the extent of calorie based under nutrition and child malnutrition in Vietnam during the 1990s. The study uses anthropometric information on children to estimate the determinants of the change in child nutritional status. The paper also exploits the panel data to construct transition matrices that show the proportion of households that have changed their nutritional status. The evidence suggests a weak link between expenditure poverty and calorie based prevalence of under nourishment. The results point to the role of economic growth, through income improvement, in reducing the incidence of child malnutrition in Vietnam.