Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey
Abstract Background Despite numerous national and international efforts to alleviate child growth faltering, it remains a global health challenge. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of women’s empowerment in a wide range of public health topics, such as the utilizat...
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doaj-9fd105630625465fb9f1ae8f172a284a2021-01-31T16:08:27ZengBMCBMC Women's Health1472-68742021-01-012111910.1186/s12905-021-01183-xWomen’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health SurveyAlemayehu Gonie Mekonnen0Daniel Bogale Odo1Dabere Nigatu2Adem Sav3Kiya Kedir Abagero4College of Health Science, Debre Berhan UniversityCollege of Health Sciences, Arsi UniversitySchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar UniversitySchool of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of TechnologyNon Communicable Disease Directorate, Armauer Hansen Research InstituteAbstract Background Despite numerous national and international efforts to alleviate child growth faltering, it remains a global health challenge. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of women’s empowerment in a wide range of public health topics, such as the utilization of maternal healthcare services, agricultural productivity, and child nutrition. However, in Ethiopia, the relationship between women’s empowerment and child nutritional status is not studied at the national level. This study aimed to determine the association between women’s empowerment and growth faltering in under-5 children in Ethiopia. Methods The data source for this analysis is the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS): a nationally representative household survey on healthcare. The EDHS employed a two-stage stratified cluster sampling technique. We computed standard women’s empowerment indices, following the Survey-based Women’s emPowERment index approach. A multilevel logistic regression model that accounted for cluster-level random effects was used to estimate the association between women’s empowerment and child growth faltering (stunting, wasting and underweight). Results Attitude to violence, social independence, and decision-making were the three domains of women’s empowerment that were associated with child growth faltering. One standard deviation increase in each domain of empowerment was associated with a reduction in the odds of stunting: attitude towards violence (AOR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.88–0.96; p < 0.001), social independence (AOR = 0.95; 95% CI 0.89–0.99; p = 0.049), and decision-making (AOR = 0.93; 95% CI 0.87–0.99; p = 0.023). Similarly, each standard deviation increase in attitude towards violence (AOR = 0.93; 95% CI 0.89–0.98; p = 0.008), social independence (AOR = 0.91; 95% CI 0.86–0.97; p = 0.002), and decision-making (AOR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.86–0.99; p = 0.020) were associated with a decrease in the odds of having underweight child. Conclusions Ensuring women’s empowerment both in the household and in the community could have the potential to decrease stunting and underweight in a rapidly developing country like Ethiopia. Policymakers and health professionals need to consider women’s empowerment in this unique context to improve nutritional outcomes for children and alleviate growth faltering.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01183-xWomen’s empowermentChild growth falteringEDHS |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Alemayehu Gonie Mekonnen Daniel Bogale Odo Dabere Nigatu Adem Sav Kiya Kedir Abagero |
spellingShingle |
Alemayehu Gonie Mekonnen Daniel Bogale Odo Dabere Nigatu Adem Sav Kiya Kedir Abagero Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey BMC Women's Health Women’s empowerment Child growth faltering EDHS |
author_facet |
Alemayehu Gonie Mekonnen Daniel Bogale Odo Dabere Nigatu Adem Sav Kiya Kedir Abagero |
author_sort |
Alemayehu Gonie Mekonnen |
title |
Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey |
title_short |
Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey |
title_full |
Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey |
title_fullStr |
Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey |
title_full_unstemmed |
Women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in Ethiopia: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey |
title_sort |
women’s empowerment and child growth faltering in ethiopia: evidence from the demographic and health survey |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Women's Health |
issn |
1472-6874 |
publishDate |
2021-01-01 |
description |
Abstract Background Despite numerous national and international efforts to alleviate child growth faltering, it remains a global health challenge. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of women’s empowerment in a wide range of public health topics, such as the utilization of maternal healthcare services, agricultural productivity, and child nutrition. However, in Ethiopia, the relationship between women’s empowerment and child nutritional status is not studied at the national level. This study aimed to determine the association between women’s empowerment and growth faltering in under-5 children in Ethiopia. Methods The data source for this analysis is the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS): a nationally representative household survey on healthcare. The EDHS employed a two-stage stratified cluster sampling technique. We computed standard women’s empowerment indices, following the Survey-based Women’s emPowERment index approach. A multilevel logistic regression model that accounted for cluster-level random effects was used to estimate the association between women’s empowerment and child growth faltering (stunting, wasting and underweight). Results Attitude to violence, social independence, and decision-making were the three domains of women’s empowerment that were associated with child growth faltering. One standard deviation increase in each domain of empowerment was associated with a reduction in the odds of stunting: attitude towards violence (AOR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.88–0.96; p < 0.001), social independence (AOR = 0.95; 95% CI 0.89–0.99; p = 0.049), and decision-making (AOR = 0.93; 95% CI 0.87–0.99; p = 0.023). Similarly, each standard deviation increase in attitude towards violence (AOR = 0.93; 95% CI 0.89–0.98; p = 0.008), social independence (AOR = 0.91; 95% CI 0.86–0.97; p = 0.002), and decision-making (AOR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.86–0.99; p = 0.020) were associated with a decrease in the odds of having underweight child. Conclusions Ensuring women’s empowerment both in the household and in the community could have the potential to decrease stunting and underweight in a rapidly developing country like Ethiopia. Policymakers and health professionals need to consider women’s empowerment in this unique context to improve nutritional outcomes for children and alleviate growth faltering. |
topic |
Women’s empowerment Child growth faltering EDHS |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01183-x |
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