Climate Change and Women’s Nutritional Status in Egypt and Jordan

Keywords: Climate change, health, gender inequality, Middle East and North Africa, food insecurity
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

A growing literature has investigated the consequences of climate change and variability for population-level outcomes in low and middle-income countries. However, adult morbidity has received little attention as of yet, in part due to data limitations. These issues are of particular concern for women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) due to their low social status in conjunction with accelerating temperature extremes in the region. Further, understanding the vulnerabilities of women in rural and urban regions of MENA nations, particularly as a result of climate change is largely understudied. To address this issue, we will use 13 DHS surveys from Egypt and Jordan and district-level climate data in a fixed effects regression to investigate the consequences of temperature and precipitation anomalies for women's underweight, overweight, and anemia status. The results will represent some of the first information on how climate extremes affect women’s health and anemia status in this region and globally.