Landscape Fire Air Pollution as a Mediator in Drought and Childhood Stunting Pathway in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Drought induces dry hazards, including wildfire, and increased air pollution from wildfire may be a mechanism by which drought increases health risks. We examined whether the drought-wildfire pathway increases the risk of childhood stunting. We analyzed all geocoded children under five across 44 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We first conducted mixed-effect regressions to examine the three pairwise associations between standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), fire-sourced PM