In his inaugural lecture, Eric Schneider will explore how child malnutrition, measured through child growth, has changed over the past 150 years around the world. Children with poor nutrition or who are exposed to high levels of chronic disease grow more slowly than healthy children. Thus, children’s growth is a sensitive metric of how population health has evolved over time.
Eric will begin by showing how child growth has changed around the world since the nineteenth century and linking changes in child growth to child stunting, children who are too short for their age relative to healthy standards, the most common indicator used to measure malnutrition in LMICs today. Then he will discuss the key determinants of poor child growth drawing on historical research and contemporary findings related to the ‘Indian Enigma’, the puzzling fact that Indian children are shorter than sub-Saharan African children today despite India’s lead in many indicators of economic development. Finally, he will consider what lessons historical analysis of child malnutrition has for tackling child stunting today.
Meet our speaker and chair
Eric Schneider (@ericbschneider) is Professor of Economic History in the Department of Economic History at LSE. He is currently conducting research on three broad topics in the history of health and historical economic demography.
Patrick Wallis (@phwallis) is Professor of Economic History in the Department of Economic History at LSE. His research explores the economic, social and medical history of Britain and Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.
More about this event
This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.
The Department of Economic History (@LSEEcHist) is one of the world's leading centres for research and teaching economic history. It is home to a huge breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise ranging from the medieval period to the current century.
This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2023, taking place from 21 October to 17 November with events across the UK.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEEcHistChildGrowth
Podcast & Video
A podcast of this event is available to download from Trends and determinants of global child malnutrition: what can we learn from history?
A video of this event is available to watch at Trends and determinants of global child malnutrition: what can we learn from history?
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.