Mother's Early Age of Marriage Predicts Children Malaria Risk in the Peruvian Amazon

Sheng Liu, Duke University
William Pan, Duke University

The objective of this paper is to study the relationship between mother’s age of marriage and malaria risk of their child and adolescent offspring. While research has focused primarily on the impact of marital age on human rights and gender disparities, we provide some of the first evidence linking early female age of marriage to increased malaria prevalence in mother-offspring dyad. Data are from a longitudinal study of malaria risk in the Peruvian Amazon between 2009 and 2012. We estimate the incidence of malaria for different strata of women’s age of marriage and examine causal linkages via mobility / migration for families of young mothers, access to health services, socioeconomic status, household structure, household vulnerability and social networks. Data collection has been completed and analysis is currently being conducted. We hypothesize that age of marriage has a significant effect on malaria risk and that labor migration is an underlying driver.