Women’s decision-making power and undernutrition in their children under age five in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A cross-sectional study

McKenna, Caroline G.; Bartels, Susan A.; Pablo, Lesley A; Walker, Margaret Urban

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0226041

Cited by 25 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…Other empowerment dimensions (i.e., access to healthcare, decision-making power, attitudes towards wife-beating by husband, and asset ownership) are insignificant, which suggests that the empowerment of women in arenas other than socioeconomic status may not help improving children’s health status of stunting and wasting. This finding is consistent with the findings of some previous studies that reported no statistically significant association between some women’s empowerment dimensions (e.g., decision making, access to healthcare, beating or domestic violence) and children’s nutritional status of height-for-age and weight-for-height [ 16 , 26 , 29 , 55 , 71 ]. For example, [ 16 ] found no significant association between women’s empowerment in agriculture and child health status in Northern Ghana.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…For example, [ 16 ] found no significant association between women’s empowerment in agriculture and child health status in Northern Ghana. Using cross-sectional data from the 2013–14 DHS data, in the Democratic Republic of Congo [ 71 ], found women’s decision making power were not significantly associated with stunting or wasting in children. Similarly, [ 32 ] found that women’s decision making authority has a weak effect on children’s health in sub-Saharan Africa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia

2020

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Although women’s empowerment has gained attention over the last two decades, our understanding of the associations between different dimensions of women’s empowerment and different children’s health outcomes is limited. This study aims to measure the extent of women’s empowerment and to examine its associations with the children's health status in Ethiopia. Data were obtained from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). The sample is restricted to a sub-sample of 10,641 women from 15 to 49 years old and their children under the age of five years. We used children’s height-for-age and weight-for-height Z-scores and pneumonia and anemia experience as indicators of children’s health outcome. Women’s empowerment is measured by five indices reflecting their participation in decision-making, attitudes towards wife-beating by husband, barriers to health care access, asset ownership, and socio-economic variables. These indicators of empowerment were constructed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model was employed to examine the relationship between women’s empowerment and latent child health outcomes, after controlling for relevant covariates. Results suggests that enhancing women’s empowerment in the household in terms of their socio-economic status (i.e., increasing women’s access to education, information, media, and promoting saving) was associated with less likelihood of the children’s being stunted or wasted (p<0.05). Higher women’s empowerment in terms of household decision-making power were also associated with better children’s health status measured by the children’s experience of pneumonia and anemia (p<0.05). All aspects of women’s empowerment are not related with children’s health indicators. Women’s empowerment dimensions related with child health have a varying degree of association with the different children’s health indicators. Gender-specific policies focusing on increasing women’s access to education, media, information, and promoting saving and their participation in the household decision making are some of the strategies for improving their children’s health and wellbeing.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia

2020

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“…The socioeconomic factors were significantly associated with stunting in our study as was in many studies conducted previously in developing countries [50,51]. Children who belonged to poor households, scheduled tribe category or resided in rural areas were more likely to be stunted than their counterparts from wealthy, urban households and other castes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Children who belonged to poor households, scheduled tribe category or resided in rural areas were more likely to be stunted than their counterparts from wealthy, urban households and other castes. Also, Males were found to be more prone to stunting than females [50,52]. The children whose mothers, aged more than 25 years, had completed secondary or higher level of schooling were less likely to be stunted than those who were younger than 25 years and only at primary level or no education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Is mother’s financial autonomy associated with stunting among children aged 7–35 months: An empirical study from India

Shirisha

Bansal

2022

PLOS Glob Public Health

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Stunting depicts chronic deprivation and is a huge public health problem in several developing countries. Considering the sociocultural and sociodemographic factors of India, we aimed to examine the relationship between maternal autonomy and stunting among children <35 months. We have used the data from the latest round of National Family health survey conducted in 2015–16. The main exposure variable was women’s autonomy which are represented in our study by the four dimensions- decision-making, physical mobility, financial autonomy, attitudes towards domestic violence, the main predictor variable was stunting among children. Chi-square analysis, univariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis were performed to find the association of childhood stunting and women’s autonomy. The results were reported at 5% level of significance. All the autonomy variables have shown a significant association with child stunting at 5% level of significance. The unadjusted odds of stunting were found to be significant with respect to all the four dimensions of autonomy variables except physical autonomy. However, after adjusting for other explanatory factors attenuated these relationships and made them statistically insignificant except for women’s economic autonomy (AOR = 0.91; 95% C.I.-(0.85, 0.98)) which was found to be significantly affecting the child’s status of stunting. Our study reinforces that maternal autonomy is a significant predictor of childhood stunting. Hence, we recommend that policy makers, while designing interventions and policies, must address the socioeconomic inequalities at the community level while devising ways to improve women’s empowerment. As it has far-reaching consequences on the nutrition status of the upcoming generations.

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“…Akombi et al [9] concluded in their study that countries in East and West Africa bore the greatest burden of malnutrition in the SSA region. Malnutrition is expressed through either undernutrition (the most common in less developed countries), a situation of low protein-energy intake [10] (which usually manifests at different anthropometric indices in stunting, wasting and underweight), and/or overnutrition, which is commonly associated with too great an intake of protein-energy (a situation widely associated with developed society, but of less concern in the developing countries [11], perhaps a dangerous position to assume especially in Africa).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Factors Associated with Malnutrition among Children Under-Five Years in Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Scoping Review

Obasohan

Walters

Jacques

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Background/Purpose: Malnutrition is a significant global public health burden with greater concern among children under five years in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To effectively address the problem of malnutrition, especially in resource-scarce communities, knowing the prevalence, causes and risk factors associated with it are essential steps. This scoping review aimed to identify the existing literature that uses classical regression analysis on nationally representative health survey data sets to find the individual socioeconomic, demographic and contextual risk factors associated with malnutrition among children under five years of age in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). Methods: The electronic databases searched include EMBASE (OVID platform), PubMed (MEDLINE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and Cochrane Library. Only papers written in the English language, and for which the publication date was between 1 January 1990 and 31 July 2020, were included. Results: A total of 229 papers were identified, of which 26 were studies that have been included in the review. The risk factors for malnutrition identified were classified as child-related, parental/household-related and community or area-related. Conclusions: Study-interest bias toward stunting over other anthropometric indicators of malnutrition could be addressed with a holistic research approach to equally address the various dimension of the anthropometric indicators of malnutrition in a population.

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Women’s decision-making power and undernutrition in their children under age five in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A cross-sectional study

Cited by 25 publications

References 29 publications

Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia

Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia

Is mother’s financial autonomy associated with stunting among children aged 7–35 months: An empirical study from India

Risk Factors Associated with Malnutrition among Children Under-Five Years in Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Scoping Review

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