Prenatal nutritional program and child health at birth: empirical evaluation of the impact of the OLO program in Canada.

This paper evaluates the impact of a prenatal nutritional program on child health at birth in one of the Canadian provinces, Québec. The objective of the OLO ("oeuf-lait-orange") program is to reduce the incidence of prematurity and low birth weight by providing nutritional supplements to pregnant women in situations of poverty. We exploit the historical and geospatial progressive implementation of the program throughout the province between 1985 and 2005 to identify the causal impact of the program on infant health. Our preliminary results suggest a positive effect of the OLO program on birth weight. Since birth weight is associated with a number of adulthood outcomes such as educational attainment, the evaluation of this program contributes to the debates on which policies should be implemented in order to reduce socioeconomic inequalities.