Conflict and Child Malnutrition: a Systematic Review of the Emerging Quantitative Literature

Purpose of Review: Reduction of child malnutrition in conflict settings is on top of the international agenda on sustainable development. This association between child malnutrition and conflict has been hypothesised in the academic literature but not rigorously examined empirically till recently. This paper reviews the emerging quantitative literature, including conflict as an explanatory variable to understand the aspects of child malnutrition studied and how violent events are associated with child nutritional status. Limitations are also highlighted. Recent Findings: Child malnutrition is investigated into its three main dimensions of stunting, wasting and undernourishment computed as z-score. Conflict is mostly studied in terms of duration, number of events, typology and intensity. Summary: The emerging literature generally establishes a significant and negative association between conflict and child malnutrition. However, limitations persist and are mainly due to the type of available data.