Kyle Beardsley and Jessica Beardsley present their working paper titled "The Public Health Legacies of Peace Operations: Mitigating Malnutrition in Conflict Zones in Côte d'Ivoire."

Abstract

Armed conflict worsens public health outcomes, but do the means by which armed conflicts de-escalate influence the harm to public health? This paper uses nutrition outcomes as a lens through which to understand the downstream consequences of peace operations. It considers three pathways by which armed conflict can exacerbate problems of malnutrition – through disrupting household economies, reducing access to food, and enhancing trauma-related stress. It then considers ways in which peace operations might mitigate those challenges. In comparing surveys of women in Côte d’Ivoire from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) across two waves that cover pre-conflict and post-conflict periods, the results demonstrate that adult malnutrition—specifically the propensity for being underweight—increased in conflict zones. The deployment of peace operations attenuated the impact of conflict. Further analysis reveals that peace operations are especially important in blunting reductions in women’s wages. The economic legacies of peace operations include better nutrition outcomes.