Results were compared with six earlier surveys spanning the period 1982 to 1995. It emerged that better access to land may not be enough by itself to improve levels of child nutrition. Parents' education, household income and health infrastructure can, however, have conspicuously positive effects on nutrition. Children's general health is commonly assessed by measuring physical growth. This yardstick serves to indicate nutritional status in a well nourished population, in which it is possible to predict normal distributions of height and weight among children in any given age-group.
Disruption caused by war and relocation can, however, affect nutrition levels.
So can poverty and lack of health and education services. All could result in poor physical growth. In post-independence Zimbabwe, land reform was seen as the key to redressing inequality and reducing rural poverty. Expected benefits have been limited by severe droughts, including one that persisted for three years. During drought years, severe nutritional problems among children in resettlement areas proved worse than in all other areas of the country.