Chinese aid and nutrition improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa

The efficacy of foreign aid, especially escalating Chinese aid, has been controversial. Considering the widespread malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa and the substantial concerns about Chinese aid, we investigate whether and how Chinese development assistance improves the nutrition of the African recipients, particularly children and women. We match Chinese aid projects and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) covering 24 SSA countries during 2000–2016. We address the causality by comparing the individuals who lived near a Chinese aid project that was effective at the time of the interview to those who were not exposed to Chinese aid projects while a nearby Chinese aid project would be initiated after the interview. We measure malnutrition by hemoglobin haemoglobin and anemia anaemia which are more relevant and reliable than other indicators. Our results show that Chinese aid significantly increased hemoglobin haemoglobin and decreased the likelihood of anemia anaemia, and the effects are more pronounced among children. In contrast to the popular expectation, health aid does not significantly improve nutrition conditions, at least in the short run. Instead, other aid projects that promote earnings and job opportunities substantially reduced malnutrition among children and women. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that Chinese aid strongly improved nutrition mainly among disadvantaged residents.