Early Life Exposure to Pollution: Eect of Seasonal Open Biomass Burning on Child Health in India

This paper examines effect of outdoor air pollution on child health in India by combining satellite PM2.5 data with geo-coded Demographic and Health Survey of India(2016). Pollution levels vary due to seasonal open biomass burning events (like crop-burning and forest res) which are a common occurrence. Our identification strategy relies on spatial and temporal differences in these biomass burning events to identify the effect air pollution on child health. Our results indicate that children ex- posed to higher levels of PM2.5 during their first trimester and during the post-natal period of first three months after birth have lower Height-for-age and Weight-for-age; the effect is not limited to just rural areas, but prominent for Northern states of India which have higher incidence of such events