{"640170":{"#nid":"640170","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Study Shows War\u0027s Toll on Children\u0027s Long-Term Health ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy Gita Smith\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech School of Economics Prof. Olga Shemyakina is a pioneer in the\u0026nbsp;field\u0026nbsp;of\u0026nbsp;health-related\u0026nbsp;effects of war.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;Her most recent study,\u0026nbsp;Political Violence and Child Health: Results from Zimbabwe, is in the very same field that led to a Nobel Peace Prize being given to the World Food\u0026nbsp;Programme\u0026nbsp;on October 9, 2020.\u0026nbsp;The\u0026nbsp;Nobel Committee emphasized\u0026nbsp;the\u0026nbsp;link between armed conflict, hunger\u0026nbsp;and the poor health of children in war-torn countries.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShemyakina\u0026rsquo;s latest\u0026nbsp;work sheds\u0026nbsp;new light on the long reach of war and how it stunts children.\u0026nbsp;Her\u0026nbsp;paper examines how the well-being of children in Zimbabwe was affected by two events:\u0026nbsp;the\u0026nbsp;Fast Track\u0026nbsp;Land\u0026nbsp;Reform and the fighting it caused\u0026nbsp;as thousands of farmers were displaced, and\u0026nbsp;a spike in\u0026nbsp;election-related violence.\u0026nbsp;Her findings significantly contribute to existing literature. She concluded that a war does not need to be large-scale for health to decline in a population.\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;Children impacted by persistent,\u0026nbsp;low-scale\u0026nbsp;conflict and accompanying food deprivation may suffer in similar ways to those consumed by civil wars,\u0026rdquo; she found.\u0026nbsp;This has implications for policy makers and charitable organization: They need to help children trapped in small-scale, ongoing conflicts as well as big ones.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBetween 2000 and 2005, the government of Zimbabwe forced thousands of farmers off their land, increasing food insecurity in the country. A referendum on this land reform in 2000 led to prolonged fighting. Shemyakina writes, \u0026ldquo;We find that children who were born in Zimbabwe after the 2000 wave of violence, and who lived in one of the more significantly affected locations, had significantly smaller height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) than children surveyed in 1999.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe focused on children\u0026rsquo;s HAZ because, according to the WHO (1997), \u0026ldquo;growth assessment serves as an indirect measure of the quality of life of an entire population.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EZimbabwean children were behind the\u0026nbsp;comparable\u0026nbsp;international population, with average height-for-age z-scores being lower by\u0026nbsp;1.26 standard deviations in the 1999\u0026nbsp;survey and\u0026nbsp;dipped further to\u0026nbsp;1.38 standard deviations in the postwar 2005 survey.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The numbers indicate that conflict exposure is associated with children becoming shorter due to food deprivation and likely disease burden,\u0026rdquo; she says.\u0026nbsp;She further found that the length of exposure to the crisis, combined with the level of intensity of violence, had a significant negative impact on a child\u0026rsquo;s HAZ, with older children experiencing greater setbacks to their health. Also, shorter children were educationally disadvantaged. Perceived to be younger\u0026nbsp;than their age, they were denied entry to school,\u0026nbsp;delaying their progress and causing dropouts.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Olga Shemyakina is a pioneer in the field of health-related effects of war.  Her most recent study, Political Violence and Child Health: Results from Zimbabwe, is in the very same field that led to a Nobel Peace Prize being given. "}],"uid":"35230","created_gmt":"2020-10-13 19:07:48","changed_gmt":"2020-10-14 19:06:13","author":"schristmas3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-10-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-10-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"640212":{"id":"640212","type":"image","title":"Associate Prof. Olga Shemyakina","body":null,"created":"1602702228","gmt_created":"2020-10-14 19:03:48","changed":"1602702228","gmt_changed":"2020-10-14 19:03:48","alt":"","file":{"fid":"243362","name":"download.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/download_9.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/download_9.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":11227,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/download_9.jpeg?itok=E3sFnDoK"}}},"media_ids":["640212"],"groups":[{"id":"1282","name":"School of Economics"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"398","name":"health"},{"id":"602","name":"economics"},{"id":"171351","name":"Shemyakina"},{"id":"999","name":"IAC"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOlga Shemyakina\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Eolga.shemyakina@econ.gatech.edu\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}