Dr. Malhotra leads the data analysis team at the Birthplace Lab at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where her most recent research projects explore inequities in maternity care in the United States and Canada. Other projects she is pursuing include domestic violence issues in India and Pakistan. Dr. Nisha Malhotra has a master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics (DSE) and a doctorate from the University of Maryland in the USA. Formerly she was a tenured faculty at the Vancouver School of Economics and has also worked at the Indian Council for research in international economic relations and the World Bank.
Academic Research
Current Projects
Despite a spectacular economic growth over the last three decades, there continues to be widespread malnutrition in India. Consequently, between 2005 and 2006, an alarming 43 percent of children under three years old were stunted, 48 percent were underweight, and 17 percent were wasted. Indeed, income constraints can lead to malnutrition, but government policies, cultural norms, and lack of education are also some of the many determinants of malnutrition. Using the NFHS, I confirm that following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on child nutrition makes a significant difference to anthropometric measures of Indian children. Furthermore, I argue that poverty alone is not responsible for malnutrition. In fact, 20 percent of parents from the top 40 percent income group do not give supplementary solid food to their six- to eight-month-old infants, which I attribute to a lack of information on sound nutritional practices.
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Aim: To examine the role of maternal diet in determining the low birth weight (LBW) in Indian infants.Methods: Data from the National Family Health Survey (2005–06) were used. Multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of maternal diet on infant birth weight.Results: Infants whose mothers consumed milk and curd daily [odds ratio (OR), 1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06–1.29]; fruits daily (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.07–1.36) or weekly (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02–1.24) had higher odds of not having a low birth weight baby. The daily consumption of pulses and beans (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.02–1.36) increased the odds while weekly consumption of fish (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70–0.89) decreased the odds of not having an LBW infant. Intake of iron-folic acid supplements during pregnancy increased birth weight by 6.46 g per month.
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Journal publication
Child Malnutrition, Infant Feeding Practices, and Nutrition Information: Evidence from India., Book chapter: A Human Right Based Approach to Development in India (2019) p. 106 - 122
Despite a spectacular economic growth over the last three decades, there continues to be widespread malnutrition in India. Consequently, between 2005 and 2006, an alarming 43 percent of children under three years old were stunted, 48 percent were underweight, and 17 percent were wasted. Indeed, income constraints can lead to malnutrition, but government policies, cultural norms, and lack of education are also some of the many determinants of malnutrition.
Using the NFHS, I confirm that following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on child nutrition makes a significant difference to anthropometric measures of Indian children.
Furthermore, I argue that poverty alone is not responsible for malnutrition. In fact, 20 percent of parents from the top 40 percent income group do not give supplementary solid food to their six- to eight-month-old infants, which I attribute to a lack of information on sound nutritional practices.
The Role of Maternal Diet and Iron-folic Acid Supplements in Influencing Birth Weight: Evidence from India’s National Family Health Survey. (with R.P. Upadhyay, M. Bhilwar, N. Choy and T. Green), Journal of Tropical Pediatrics (2014)
Aim: To examine the role of maternal diet in determining the low birth weight (LBW) in Indian infants.Methods: Data from the National Family Health Survey (2005–06) were used. Multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of maternal diet on infant birth weight.
Results: Infants whose mothers consumed milk and curd daily [odds ratio (OR), 1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06–1.29]; fruits daily (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.07–1.36) or weekly (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02–1.24) had higher odds of not having a low birth weight baby. The daily consumption of pulses and beans (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.02–1.36) increased the odds while weekly consumption of fish (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70–0.89) decreased the odds of not having an LBW infant. Intake of iron-folic acid supplements during pregnancy increased birth weight by 6.46 g per month.
Why Are There Delays in Seeking Treatment for Childhood Diarrhoea in India? (with R.P. Upadhyay), Acta Paediatrica (2013)
In this paper we examine the barriers and the facilitating factors for seeking treatment for childhood diarrhoea, and determine the main causes for delay in seeking treatment. Data from Indian Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06 (NFHS-III) were used. Mothers were asked whether i) their children (<5-years) had suffered from diarrhoea during the 2 weeks preceding the survey, ii) if treatment was sought, and iii) the number of days waited to seek treatment after the diarrhoea had started. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to find the determinants of seeking treatment at the health facility and the factors responsible for the ‘delay’ in seeking advice/treatment.
Courses
Microeconomics
I have two main goals for this Econ101 course. The first is to introduce students to the principles of microeconomic theory. You will learn how consumers and producers interact in different market structures, and how this interaction leads to
Research Methodology
Research in the social sciences is the systematic investigation into and study of various social phenomena. The typical way scientific research is conducted is to first propose a
DATA Analysis
Datasets in the social sciences usually come from secondary sources unless the researcher herself conducts an experiment or collects primary survey
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Educational Leadership
Presentation & Workshops
Instructional Design & Flexible Learning
Articles
Online Teaching, Pedagogy & Curriculum Design – Economics at UBC
Asynchronous Video: A Powerful Way to Teach, Present, and Communicate with Students
Recent technology and internet presence have become an essential part of education and classroom learning. Interactive multimedia, audio/video tutorials
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June 14, 2021
2:13 PM
Implementing Active Learning and Student-Centered Pedagogy in Large Classes
There is a vast pedagogical literature spelling out the benefits of student engagement and active participation (1). A recent meta-analysis study of 225 active learning...
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September 19th, 2018
2:13 PM
Experimenting with Facebook in the College Classroom
While discussing the nuances of regression analysis, I saw some of my students smiling. It wasn’t a smile of understanding; it was a response to seeing a Facebook comment on their smart phone.I later learned
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September 19th, 2018
2:13 PM
Blog
