Narayan Sastry

Community characteristics, individual and household attributes, and child survival in brazil

This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between community characteristics, household attributes, and child survival in Brazil. The principal objectives are to investigate how the social and environmental context in which a child is raised affects his or her survival chances, and to analyze how household variables modify the effects of community characteristics. The interaction effects we examine help to explain the effects of community characteristics on child survival chances by illuminating the most likely pathways through which these covariates operate. This information is also useful for predicting who is most likely to benefit from public policies to improve community infrastructure. education, and health care.

Forest Fires, Air Pollution, and Mortality in Southeast Asia

I assess the population health effects in Malaysia of air pollution from a widespread series of fires that occurred in Indonesia between April and November of 1997. I describe how the fires occurred and why the associated air pollution was so widespread and long lasting. The main objective is to uncover any mortality effects and to assess how large and important they were. I also investigate whether the mortality effects were persistent or whether they represented a short-term, mortality-harvesting effect. The results show that the smoke haze from the fires had a deleterious effect on the health of the population in Malaysia.

The Quality of Retrospective Data An Examination of Long-Term Recall in a Developing Country

The literature on reporting error provides insights into the quality of retrospective reports, particularly as it pertains to short-term recall. Less is understood about the generalizability of these findings to longer-term retrospective reports. We review studies analyzing the quality of retrospective reports in the Malaysian Family Life Surveys (MFLS), fielded in Peninsular Malaysia in 1976 and 1988, and conclude that many of the data quality problems found previously are present in the MFLS. We summarize this literature, place studies based on the MFLS within the context of the reporting error literature, and discuss implications for the design of future surveys.

Family-level clustering of childhood mortality risk in Northeast Brazil

The clustering of childhood mortality risk by family in Northeast Brazil is investigated. The extent of family clustering is estimated before and after controlling for observed child and family demographic reproductive and socioeconomic characteristics and unobserved community characteristics. The study also investigates the extent to which the coefficient estimates and standard errors are altered with better controls for unobserved heterogeneity at the family level and at the community level....The variance of family frailty is overstated by a factor of four when unobserved community effects are omitted. The family-level variance is not statistically significant in the multilevel model although it is highly significant in the model that includes only the family frailty effect. Furthermore ignoring the full design effects results in systematic bias in parameter estimates and standard errors. (EXCERPT)

What explains rural-urban differentials in child mortality in Brazil?

This paper presents an analysis of differentials in child survival by rural-urban place of residence in Brazil and examines the hypothesis that observed mortality differentials by place of residence are merely manifestations of underlying differences in socioeconomic status and demographic and reproductive behavior. The child mortality data come from the 1986 Demographic and Health Survey of Brazil and supplementary community-level variables are obtained from a database assembled by the Brazilian federal statistical agency. Child mortality rates are substantially and significantly lower in urban areas of Brazil. Our results suggest, however, that the urban advantage does not simply reflect underlying differences in socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics at the individual and household levels; rather, community variables appear to play an independent and important role. We also find that the effects of community characteristics on child survival are moderated by household socioeconomic factors, especially maternal education. Differences in socioeconomic characteristics are therefore important in explaining rural-urban child mortality differentials, but not in the way hypothesized by previous researchers.

Family and neighborhood sources of socioeconomic inequality in children’s achievement

We examined family and neighborhood sources of socioeconomic inequality in children’s reading and mathematics achievement using data from the 2000–2001 Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey. To describe inequality in achievement scores, we used Gini coefficients and concentration indices and multilevel regression models. We found no inequality in children’s achievement by family income when other variables in the model were held constant. Mother’s reading scores and average neighborhood levels of income accounted for the largest proportion of inequality in children’s achievement. Neighborhood economic status appears to be strongly associated with children’s skills acquisition.

Trends in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Mortality in Developing Countries: The Case of Child Survival in Sao Paulo, Brazil

I examined trends in socioeconomic inequalities in under-five mortality for the state of São Paulo, Brazil, over a 21-year period from 1970 to 1991, during which much of the mortality transition unfolded. During this time, there was a decline in inequality in under-five mortality by household wealth but a substantial increase by mother’s education. Improvements in infrastructure and economic development were associated with lower levels of socioeconomic inequality in under-five mortality. Mother’s education emerged as the key factor underlying socioeconomic inequalities in under-five mortality even as levels of education for women increased and inequality in schooling fell.

One Year Later: Mental Illness Prevalence and Disparities Among New Orleans Residents Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

OBJECTIVES We examined whether there were high levels of mental illness among displaced New Orleans, LA, residents in the fall of 2006, 1 year after Hurricane Katrina. METHODS We used data from the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study, which measured the prevalence of probable mild or moderate and serious mental illness among a representative sample of people who resided in New Orleans at the time of the hurricane, including people who evacuated the city and did not return. We also analyzed disparities in mental illness by race, education, and income. RESULTS We found high rates of mental illness in our sample and major disparities in mental illness by race, education, and income. Severe damage to or destruction of an individuals home was a major covariate of mental illness. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of mental illness remained high in the year following Hurricane Katrina, in contrast to the pattern found after other disasters. Economic losses and displacement may account for this finding as well as the disparity in mental illness between Blacks and Whites.

An investigation of racial and ethnic disparities in birth weight in Chicago neighborhoods.

We examine differences in the mean birth weights of infants born to non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Mexican-origin Hispanic mothers (of any race) in Chicago in 1990 using linear regression models with neighborhood fixed effects. Our pooled models accounted for 64% of the black-white difference and 57% of the black/Mexican-origin Hispanic difference. Differences in the relationship between measured characteristics and birth weight accounted for around half the birth-weight gap between non-Hispanic black and other infants. Efforts to close this gap must go beyond programs that aim to reduce the level of risk factors among black women to address the causes of differences in the effects of risk factors.

Tracing the Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Population of New Orleans: The Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study

The Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study is designed to examine the current location, well-being, and plans of people who lived in the city of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005. The study is based on a representative sample of pre-Katrina dwellings in the city. Respondents were administered a short paper-and-pencil interview by mail, by telephone, or in person. The pilot study was fielded in the fall of 2006, approximately 1 year after Hurricane Katrina. This article describes the motivation for the pilot study, outlines its design, and describes the fieldwork results using a set of fieldwork outcome rates and multivariate logistic models. It ends with a discussion of the lessons learned from the pilot study for future studies of the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the population of New Orleans. The results point to the challenges and opportunities of studying this unique population.