Determinants and Prevention of Low Birth Weight in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Effects of Antimalarial Campaigns

Following the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, there has been a significant expansion of antimalarial campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the objectives of these campaigns was to improve maternal health and birth outcomes including the incidence of low birth weight. In this paper, we investigate whether the expansion of insecticide-treated net usage and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy has led to reductions in the incidence of low birth weight. We analyze 121,717 live births in 13 countries from 2003 to 2012 and find that the diffusion of intermittent preventive treatment among pregnant women served as an important factor in reducing low birth weight incidence in sub-Saharan Africa. However, we did not find that increases in the number of individuals sleeping under an insecticide-treated net were associated with declines in low birth weight incidence.