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                   enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database



                       Does piped water reduce diarrhea for children in rural India?

       Author(s)            Jyotsna Jalan, Martin Ravallion
        Contact             jjalan@isid1.isid.ac.in

        Country             India

   Organizing Theme         Health

         Status             N/A

 Intervention Category      Water

         Sector             Environment
                            The impacts of public investments that directly improve children’s health are theoretically
                            ambiguous given that the outcomes also depend on parentally provided inputs. Using
                            propensity score matching methods, we find that the prevalence and duration of diarrhea
                            among children under five in rural India are significantly lower on average for families with
        Abstract            piped water than for observationally identical households without it. However, our results
                            indicate that the health gains largely by-pass children in poor families, particularly when the
                            mother is poorly educated. Our findings point to the importance of combining water
                            infrastructure investments with effective public action to promote health knowledge and
                            income poverty reduction.
  Gender Connection         Gender Informed Analysis

   Gender Outcomes          Sanitation, child health

       IE Design            Propensity Score Matching
                            The study examines the impact of piped water. The study does not focus on a specific
      Intervention
                            program, instead it measures the aggregate impact of piped water on child health.
  Intervention Period       N/A
                            The sample is comprised of a nationally representative survey of 33,000 rural households
   Sample population        from 1765 villages in 16 states in India. The sample includes 9000 households with piped
                            water and 24000 households with no piped water.
Comparison conditions       The study compares households with piped water to households without piped water

    Unit of analysis        Child Level

   Evaluation Period        1993-1994
                            There is a significant positive impact of piped water on diarrhea prevalence and duration in
        Results             children under five. There are no health gains from piped water amongst the poorest 40%
                            of the population. Health gains also are smaller for households with less-educated mothers.
                            The study defines having piped water as access either in the house or from a nearby public
Primary study limitations
                            tap. A concern is that there may be real difference between having water in a house vs.

    Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                         1
              enGender Impact: The World Bank’s Gender Impact Evaluation Database


                        public tap. There may be selection of access to water based on unobservables which are not
                        controlled for with PSM.
Funding Source
                        Jalan, J., & Ravallion, M. (2003). Does piped water reduce diarrhea for children in rural
 Reference(s)
                        India?. Journal of econometrics, 112(1), 153-173.
Link to Studies
                        http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407602001586
  Microdata




Last updated: 14 August 2013                                                                       2