Lia C H Fernald
Biographic Data
| ID | 976807 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lia C H Fernald |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lia C H |
| FAMILY NAME | Fernald |
| SIGNATURE | FERNALD L C H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Berkeley Public Health Division |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1555-4607 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 87 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 212 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 87 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Safety net program participation and churning during the Covid-19 pandemic: A longitudinal analysis of low-income California families
Objective: Studies of participation in US safety net programs consistently find improvements in health equity, yet few have measured multi-program participation over time, or linked these trajectories to health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study characterizes longitudinal participation phenotypes in SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid and examines their associations with mental and physical health. Methods: We used longitudinal data from a cohort of lo…
Evaluation of a multicomponent child development intervention delivered through the government health system: A feasibility study
INTRODUCTION: Small efficacy trials have demonstrated that multicomponent interventions can improve early child development. We evaluated the large-scale delivery of a multicomponent intervention delivered by government health workers throughout a rural subdistrict in northwestern Bangladesh. METHODS: We evaluated a group-based, multicomponent intervention with a curriculum covering responsive parenting, caregivers' mental health, lead exposure p…
Lived Experiences of Families Navigating Safety Net Expansions and Retractions During the Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
Objectives. To understand the experiences of families with low income in California with pandemic safety net support expansions and retractions, including barriers to program access. Methods. Using open-ended questions, we explored the self-reported experiences of pandemic-era safety net expansions and expirations between January and June 2023 among a group of caregivers of young children (n = 44). We used the Immersion-Crystallization technique …
Association between coordinated counseling from both Asha and Anganwadi Workers and maternal health outcomes: A cross-sectional study from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, India
Community Health Workers (CHWs) play crucial roles in health promotion and services in rural India. Previous research investigating the effectiveness of coordinated health promotion by different community health workers (CHWs) cadres on health practices is scarce. This study examines the effectiveness of coordinated health promotion by different CHW cadres, specifically Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi Workers (AWW), on mat…
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Foods of Low Nutritional Value, and Child Undernutrition in Cambodia
Child undernutrition persists in Cambodia despite recent progress. As Cambodia undergoes a shift in dietary consumption that coincides with economic, demographic, and epidemiologic changes, there is risk of ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages displacing nutrient-dense foods during the critical period of infant growth in the first 24 months. The aim of this study was to assess the introduction and intake of foods of low nutritional…
Integrating early child development into an existing health and nutrition program: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial
AEA Social Science Registry (AEARCTR-0004704) on November 15, 2019 (prospective registration) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05129696) on November 22, 2021 (retrospective registration)
Gender Differences in Early Child Development: Evidence from Large-Scale Studies of Very Young Children in Nine Countries
Some evidence suggests that there are significant gender gaps in early child development in low- and middle-income countries, with girls generally outperforming boys. However, few studies have tested for the existence of such gaps at a large scale. Our objective is to examine gender disparities in early child development in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Peru, Senegal, and Uruguay, with 26,055 children aged 7 to 48 months. …
Preprimary education and early childhood development: Evidence from government schools in rural Kenya
We provide evidence on the link between enrollment in public preschool and child vocabulary, a critical precursor to early literacy. We measure early childhood development among both in-school and out-of-school children in Kenya, allowing us to examine the association between preschool enrollment and cognitive outcomes. Children in our sample are more likely to start school at age three rather than age four if they live within a few hundred meter…
Fishery access benefits early childhood development through fish consumption and fishing income pathways
Does educational attainment modify the causal relationship between adiposity and cardiovascular disease? A Mendelian randomization study
A greater risk of cardiovascular disease is associated with low educational attainment and high adiposity. Despite the correlation between low educational attainment and high adiposity, whether educational attainment modifies the risk of CVD caused by high adiposity remains poorly understood. We investigated the effect of adiposity (body mass index [BMI] and waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI [WHRadjBMI]) on incident CVD among individuals with v…
Experiences of distress and gaps in government safety net supports among parents of young children during the Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative study
Families of young children, already facing housing and economic insecurity prior to the pandemic, experienced parental burnout. To support family well-being, participants endorsed policies to remove housing barriers, and expand childcare options to mitigate job loss and competing demands on parents. Policy responses that either alleviate stressors or bolster supports have the potential to prevent distress catalyzed by future disasters or the more…
Potential mechanisms linking poverty alleviation and health: An analysis of benefit spending among recipients of the U.S. earned income tax credit
Our findings suggest that EITC recipients primarily use their refunds on bills and debt, as well as on household and vehicle expenses. This supports the idea of the EITC as a safety net policy which addresses key social determinants of health
Can digitally enabling community health and nutrition workers improve services delivery to pregnant women and mothers of infants? Quasi-experimental evidence from a national-scale nutrition programme …
BACKGROUND: India's 1.4 million community health and nutrition workers (CHNWs) serve 158 million beneficiaries under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. We assessed the impact of a data capture, decision support, and job-aid mobile app for the CHNWs on two primary outcomes-(1) timeliness of home visits and (2) appropriate counselling specific to the needs of pregnant women and mothers of children <12 months. METHODS: We us…
Characterizing the Landscape of Safety Net Programs and Policies in California during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid and innovative policymaking around the world at the national, regional, and local levels. There has been limited work to systematically document and characterize new and expanded local U.S. pandemic-era policies, which is imperative to better understand the policy variation and resulting health impacts during this unprecedented time. California, the most populous U.S. state, provides a case example of a partic…
Integrating early stimulation and play at scale: Study protocol for “Mahay Mikolo”, a multi-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial
This trial is registered on the AEA Social Science Registry (AEARCTR-0004704) on November 15, 2019 and on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05129696) on November 22, 2021
Pandemic-related socioeconomic disruptions and adverse health outcomes: A cross-sectional study of female caregivers
In the wake of socioeconomic stressors brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, attending to structural deficits in the child care system and increasing housing supports may be critical for protecting the health of caregivers
Preventive small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements reduce severe wasting and severe stunting among young children: An individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Including SQ-LNSs in preventive interventions to promote healthy child growth and development is likely to reduce rates of severe wasting and stunting. This meta-analysis was registered at www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO as CRD42019146592.
Father involvement and early child development in a low-resource setting
Evidence on the role of father involvement in children's development from low-resource settings is very limited and historically has only relied on maternal reports of father's direct engagement activities such as reading to the child. However, fathers can also potentially influence their children's development via greater positive involvement with the mother, such as by offering interpersonal support or sharing decision-making duties. Such posit…
A holistic approach to promoting early child development: A cluster randomised trial of a group-based, multicomponent intervention in rural Bangladesh
INTRODUCTION: In low- and middle-income countries, children experience multiple risks for delayed development. We evaluated a multicomponent, group-based early child development intervention including behavioural recommendations on responsive stimulation, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, mental health and lead exposure prevention. METHODS: We conducted a 9-month, parallel, multiarm, cluster-randomised controlled trial in 31 rural villages i…
Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on caregiver mental health and the child caregiving environment in a low-resource, rural context
Early child development has been influenced directly and indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic, and these effects are exacerbated in contexts of poverty. This study estimates effects of the pandemic and subsequent population lockdowns on mental health, caregiving practices, and freedom of movement among female caregivers of children 6–27 months (50% female), in rural Bangladesh. A cohort (N = 517) was assessed before and during the pandemic (May–Ju…
Success Factors for Community Health Workers in Implementing an Integrated Group-Based Child Development Intervention in Rural Bangladesh
Community Health Workers (CHWs) can effectively implement maternal and child health interventions, but there is paucity of evidence on how to integrate child stimulation into these interventions, and their delivery at scale. In rural Bangladesh, CHWs implemented an intervention integrating psychosocial stimulation, nutrition, maternal mental health, water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and lead exposure prevention. In each of 16 intervention village…
Early childhood factors associated with obesity at age 8 in Vietnamese children: The Young Lives Cohort Study
We found that increased consumption of powdered milk, honey/sugar, packaged sweets, and prepared restaurants/fast foods are associated with childhood ow/ob. In contrast, breastfeeding for 6 months or longer was protective against childhood ow/ob. These findings suggest that public health programs and campaigns aimed to prevent childhood ow/ob in Vietnam should target early feeding practices
Crop diversity is associated with higher child diet diversity in Ethiopia, particularly among low-income households, but not in Vietnam
Objectives: To examine associations of household crop diversity with school-aged child dietary diversity in Vietnam and Ethiopia and mechanisms underlying these associations. Design: We created a child diet diversity score (DDS) using data on seven food groups consumed in the last 24 h. Generalised estimating equations were used to model associations of household-level crop diversity, measured as a count of crop species richness (CSR) and of plan…
Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements for children age 6–24 months: A systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of effects on developmental outcomes and effect modifier…
Characteristics that modify the effect of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplementation on child growth: An individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Poverty-alleviation program participation and salivary cortisol in very low-income children
Social and economic correlates of depressive symptoms and perceived stress in South African adults
OBJECTIVES: Adults in South Africa demonstrate rates of mental illness at or above levels elsewhere in the developing world. Yet there is a research gap regarding the social context surrounding mental health in this region. The objective of this analysis was to characterize the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms and perceived stress among a heterogeneous South African population. METHODS: Low-income adults (n = 257) in Capetown, Por…
Effect of Ecuador's cash transfer program (Bono de Desarrollo Humano) on child development in infants and toddlers: A randomized effectiveness trial
Socio-economic status and body mass index in low-income Mexican adults
Characteristics that modify the effect of small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplementation on child growth: An individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Objective and subjective social class gradients for substance use among Mexican adolescents
Transactional Fish-for-Sex Relationships Amid Declining Fish Access in Kenya
Family structure and child development in Chile: A longitudinal analysis of household transitions involving fathers and grandparents
BACKGROUND: Adults support child development economically, socially, and emotionally. Household transitions may disrupt these support structures, impacting child development. OBJECTIVE: We document the large portion of children in Chile that experience biological-father and grandparent household transitions, and test if these transitions are associated with child vocabulary and behavior and if income could be a mechanism behind our findings. METH…
Blood pressure and socioeconomic status in low-income women in Mexico: A reverse gradient
OBJECTIVES: In the developed world, there is a well-established inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and blood pressure. In the developing world, however, these relationships are not as clear, particularly in middle-income countries undergoing epidemiological and nutritional transition. METHODS: A house-to-house cross-sectional survey was conducted in low-income regions of rural Mexico in 2003. A sample of women (n = 9362) aged …
Combining pre-school teacher training with parenting education: A cluster-randomized controlled trial
The association between a living wage and subjective social status and self-rated health: A quasi-experimental study in the Dominican Republic
Promoting child development through group-based parent support within a cash transfer program: Experimental effects on children’s outcomes
We examined effects on child development of a group-based parenting support program ( Educación Inicial - EI) when combined with Mexico's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program ( Prospera , originally Oportunidades and Progresa ). This cluster-randomized trial included 204 communities (n = 1,113 children in final sample), stratified by community indigenous status, and assigned to receive either: (T0) CCT only; (T1) CCT plus availability of EI in…
Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty and Inequality: Parental Resources and Schooling Attainment and Children's Human Capital in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam
Academic and policy literatures on intergenerational transmissions of poverty and inequality suggest that improving schooling attainment and income for parents in poor households will lessen poverty and inequality in their children’s generation through increased human capital accumulated by their children. However, magnitudes of such effects are unknown. We use data on children born in the twenty-first century in four developing countries to simu…
Preventive small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements reduce severe wasting and severe stunting among young children: An individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Including SQ-LNSs in preventive interventions to promote healthy child growth and development is likely to reduce rates of severe wasting and stunting. This meta-analysis was registered at www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO as CRD42019146592.
What is the relative impact of primary health care quality and conditional cash transfer program in child mortality
Pica is prevalent and strongly associated with iron deficiency among Hispanic pregnant women living in the United States
Microcredit participation and child health: Results from a cross-sectional study in Peru
BACKGROUND: Childhood malnutrition is a major consequence of poverty worldwide. Microcredit programmes-which offer small loans, financial literacy and social support to low-income individuals-are increasingly promoted as a way to improve the health of clients and their families. This study evaluates the hypothesis that longer participation in a microcredit programme is associated with improvements in the health of children of microcredit clients.…
Weight Status of Mexican Immigrant Women: A Comparison With Women in Mexico and With US-Born Mexican American Women
Objectives. We assessed the association between birthplace, residence, or years in the United States and actual weight (body mass index), perceived weight accuracy, or provider screens for overweight or obesity among Mexican immigrant women. Methods. We used linked data from Health and Nutrition Examination Survey waves 2001–2006 and 2006 National Mexican Health and Nutrition Survey to compare 513 immigrants with 9527 women in Mexico and 342 US-b…
Father involvement and early child development in a low-resource setting
Evidence on the role of father involvement in children's development from low-resource settings is very limited and historically has only relied on maternal reports of father's direct engagement activities such as reading to the child. However, fathers can also potentially influence their children's development via greater positive involvement with the mother, such as by offering interpersonal support or sharing decision-making duties. Such posit…
Parenting quality at two developmental periods in early childhood and their association with child development
Microcredit participation and nutrition outcomes among women in Peru
BACKGROUND: Microcredit services--the awarding of small loans to individuals who are too poor to take advantage of traditional financial services--are an increasingly popular scheme for poverty alleviation. Several studies have examined the ability of microcredit programmes to influence the financial standing of borrowers, but only a few studies have examined whether the added household income improves health and nutritional outcomes among househ…
Estimating the potential impacts of intervention from observational data: Methods for estimating causal attributable risk in a cross-sectional analysis of depressive symptoms in Latin America: Table 1
BACKGROUND: The field of epidemiology struggles both with enhancing causal inference in observational studies and providing useful information for policy makers and public health workers focusing on interventions. Population intervention models, analogous to population attributable fractions, estimate the causal impact of interventions in a population, and are one option for understanding the relative importance of various risk factors. With popu…
Preprimary education and early childhood development: Evidence from government schools in rural Kenya
We provide evidence on the link between enrollment in public preschool and child vocabulary, a critical precursor to early literacy. We measure early childhood development among both in-school and out-of-school children in Kenya, allowing us to examine the association between preschool enrollment and cognitive outcomes. Children in our sample are more likely to start school at age three rather than age four if they live within a few hundred meter…
Enhancing young children’s language acquisition through parent–child book-sharing: A randomized trial in rural Kenya
Female sex workers use power over their day-to-day lives to meet the condition of a conditional cash transfer intervention to incentivize safe sex
Depressive Symptoms Are Associated With Blunted Cortisol Stress Responses in Very Low-Income Women
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol responses to stress in a high-risk population of very poor Mexican women. METHODS: Adult women (N = 1109) between the ages of 18 and 44 years (mean age, 29) were identified in a house-to-house survey in low-income areas (income <20th percentile nationally) of urban Mexico. An interview containing the Spanish version of the Center …
Parallel deficits in linear growth and mental development in low-income Mexican infants in the second year of life
Objective To explore anthropometric indicators and mental development in very-low-income children in the second year of life. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Low-income areas (income Subjects Eight hundred and ninety-six children aged 12.5–23.5 months surveyed from September to December 2001. Methods Questionnaire survey and anthropometric survey of households. Multivariate regression models evaluated differences across age in anthropometr…
Overweight with concurrent stunting in very young children from rural Mexico: Prevalence and associated factors
Socio-economic status and body mass index in low-income Mexican adults
Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: An analysis of Mexico's Oportunidades
Small individual loans and mental health: A randomized controlled trial among South African adults
Our findings suggest that a mechanism used to reduce the economic stress of extremely poor individuals can have mixed effects on their experiences of psychological stress and depressive symptomatology. Our data support the notion that mental health should be included as a measure of success (or failure) when examining potential tools for poverty alleviation. Further longitudinal research is needed in South Africa and other settings to understand …
Anthropometric predictors for the risk of chronic disease in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive young Mexican women
Objectives To assess the ability of anthropometric measurements to identify young women at risk of developing diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in the future and to compare cut-off points for common anthropometric measures established with receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves with those reported in the literature. Design Cross-sectional study. Subjects Eight hundred and two young Mexican women living in semi-urban poverty. Measur…
Social and economic correlates of depressive symptoms and perceived stress in South African adults
OBJECTIVES: Adults in South Africa demonstrate rates of mental illness at or above levels elsewhere in the developing world. Yet there is a research gap regarding the social context surrounding mental health in this region. The objective of this analysis was to characterize the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms and perceived stress among a heterogeneous South African population. METHODS: Low-income adults (n = 257) in Capetown, Por…
Blood pressure and socioeconomic status in low-income women in Mexico: A reverse gradient
OBJECTIVES: In the developed world, there is a well-established inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and blood pressure. In the developing world, however, these relationships are not as clear, particularly in middle-income countries undergoing epidemiological and nutritional transition. METHODS: A house-to-house cross-sectional survey was conducted in low-income regions of rural Mexico in 2003. A sample of women (n = 9362) aged …
Year effect of Oportunidades, Mexico's conditional cash transfer programme, on child growth, cognition, language, and behaviour: A longitudinal follow-up study
Maternal Perception of Child Weight Among Mexicans in California and Mexico
The prevalence of childhood overweight is high in Mexican immigrant communities in the United States. Understanding mother's perceptions of child weight in immigrants' country of origin may help to understand this high prevalence. The goal of this study was to examine and compare mothers' perception of weight in Mexico (MX) and in an immigrant community in California (CA). We assessed perceptions of child weight using a pictorial scale with 314 m…
Poverty-alleviation program participation and salivary cortisol in very low-income children
Objective and subjective social class gradients for substance use among Mexican adolescents
Factors Associated with Overweight and Obesity among Children of Mexican Descent: Results of a Binational Study
The prevalence of childhood obesity is high among young children of Mexican origin in the United States, however, the determinants are poorly understood. We conducted a binational study with a sample from California (CA) and Mexico (MX), to identify and compare the most important factors associated with overweight and obesity among children of Mexican descent. Significantly more children were classified as overweight or obese in CA compared to MX…
Estimating the potential impacts of intervention from observational data: Methods for estimating causal attributable risk in a cross-sectional analysis of depressive symptoms in Latin America: Table 1
BACKGROUND: The field of epidemiology struggles both with enhancing causal inference in observational studies and providing useful information for policy makers and public health workers focusing on interventions. Population intervention models, analogous to population attributable fractions, estimate the causal impact of interventions in a population, and are one option for understanding the relative importance of various risk factors. With popu…
Benefits of wildlife consumption to child nutrition in a biodiversity hotspot
Terrestrial wildlife is the primary source of meat for hundreds of millions of people throughout the developing world. Despite widespread human reliance on wildlife for food, the impact of wildlife depletion on human health remains poorly understood. Here we studied a prospective longitudinal cohort of 77 preadolescent children (under 12 y of age) in rural northeastern Madagascar and show that consuming more wildlife was associated with significa…
Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes for young children in low-income and middle-income countries
Health education for microcredit clients in Peru: A randomized controlled trial
This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01047033
Effect of Ecuador's cash transfer program (Bono de Desarrollo Humano) on child development in infants and toddlers: A randomized effectiveness trial
Microcredit participation and nutrition outcomes among women in Peru
BACKGROUND: Microcredit services--the awarding of small loans to individuals who are too poor to take advantage of traditional financial services--are an increasingly popular scheme for poverty alleviation. Several studies have examined the ability of microcredit programmes to influence the financial standing of borrowers, but only a few studies have examined whether the added household income improves health and nutritional outcomes among househ…
Cash transfers and domestic violence
Weight Status of Mexican Immigrant Women: A Comparison With Women in Mexico and With US-Born Mexican American Women
Objectives. We assessed the association between birthplace, residence, or years in the United States and actual weight (body mass index), perceived weight accuracy, or provider screens for overweight or obesity among Mexican immigrant women. Methods. We used linked data from Health and Nutrition Examination Survey waves 2001–2006 and 2006 National Mexican Health and Nutrition Survey to compare 513 immigrants with 9527 women in Mexico and 342 US-b…
Effects of integrated child development and nutrition interventions on child development and nutritional status
We conducted a systematic review of studies that examined the effect of interventions combining a child development component with a nutrition one; in some cases the nutrition interventions also included health‐promotion components. Only papers with both child development and nutrition outcomes and rated as moderate‐to‐good quality were included. Eleven efficacy and two nonrandomized trials, and eight program evaluations were identified. Only six…
Pica during pregnancy among M exican‐born women: A formative study
Although pica, the craving and purposive consumption of non-food substances, is common among many populations, especially during pregnancy, the health consequences are not well understood. Further, very little is known about pica among Mexican populations in the United States and Mexico. Therefore, we conducted formative research to understand pica in this understudied population. Our objectives were to identify the frequency and types of pica be…
Microcredit participation and child health: Results from a cross-sectional study in Peru
BACKGROUND: Childhood malnutrition is a major consequence of poverty worldwide. Microcredit programmes-which offer small loans, financial literacy and social support to low-income individuals-are increasingly promoted as a way to improve the health of clients and their families. This study evaluates the hypothesis that longer participation in a microcredit programme is associated with improvements in the health of children of microcredit clients.…
Medicine (71 works) · Environmental health (50 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (41 works) · Demography (30 works) · Psychology (29 works) · Gerontology (28 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (27 works) · Nursing (25 works) · Population (25 works) · Public health (24 works)