The health effects of burning wastes on newborns in Lebanon -

Abstract

Lebanon has witnessed a waste management crisis in July of 2015 that was predicted to have negative health effects on the whole society and specifically on vulnerable subjects. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether a causal relationship exists between waste burning emissions and low birth outcomes. Therefore, we examine the effect of waste burning emissions on birth outcomes, probability of being low birth weight of less than 2500 grams, birth height and head circumference. We use fixed effect approaches to investigate whether a causal relationship exists between waste burning and birth outcomes in Lebanon. Our results show that exposure to waste burning emissions during the third trimester of pregnancy decreases birth weight by 2.9percent which is equivalent to about a 93 grams reduction on the 3,121 average birth weight base. We also find that exposure to waste burning emissions decreases birth height and head circumference by about 0.5 cm and 0.2 cm respectively. Moreover, exposure to waste burning emissions decreases the gestational period by about 0.438 of a week and increases the probability of preterm birth by 6.1percent. Due to the significance and consequences of our results, we emphasize on the importance of early lifetime interventions to enhance human capital and compensate for the negative effects of similar shocks.