Uzair talks to Dr. Ghazala Mansuri about Pakistan’s stunting crisis and its implications for the country’s future. We focused on key causes of stunting, the linkage with Pakistan’s water supply, and what the country can learn from other nations. The conversation also focused on climate change and its impact on human development, especially stunting.

Dr. Ghazala Mansuri is a Lead Economist for the South Asia Region and a Global Lead for the Welfare Impacts of Climate Change at the World Bank. Her work, at the intersection of research and policy, has been published in leading journals in economics and development, including the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Her current research focuses on the effect of public policies on human development, and the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on the agri-food system and its implications for human health, poverty, and inequality. Her recent reports include When Water becomes a Hazard (2018), and the Pakistan Country Climate and Development Report (2022). She holds a PhD in economics from Boston University.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

3:05 Nature and scale of crisis

18:10 Water and stunting

25:50 Ways to solve for this

31:50 Climate change and stunting

48:50 What have other countries done?

55:30 What can the government do?

59:10 What can parents do?

1:09:00 Reading recommendations

Reading Recommendations:

- An Agricultural Testament by Albert Howard

- The Soil and Health by Albert Howard

- Farmers of Forty Centuries by Franklin H. King

- Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization by David Montgomery