Short-term and long-term distributional consequences of prenatal malnutrition and stress: using Ramadan as a natural experiment.

Introduction: Fetal environments play significant roles in determining adult well-being, particularly as they relate to non-communicable diseases and skill formation. We studied consequences of fetal environment (in the form of in-utero exposure to Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting), in Indonesia, on birth weights, performance on Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM), math scores, hours worked and earnings.

Methods: We used quantile regressions to conduct a quantitative comparison of distributional consequences, by gender, of full month exposures to Ramadan in-utero on outcomes of interest.

Estimating effects of Uber ride-sharing service on road traffic-related deaths in South Africa: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: Road traffic deaths are a substantial barrier to population health improvement in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). In South Africa, the road-traffic injury mortality (RTM) rate of 27 per 100 000 population is twice the global average, over 60% of which are alcohol-related. Recent US studies suggest the Uber ride-sharing service may reduce alcohol-related RTM, however RTM burden in the USA is relatively low and transport behaviours differ from LMICs.