scholarly journals Measuring Women's Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses of the Demographic and Health Surveys

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibitola O. Asaolu ◽  
Halimatou Alaofè ◽  
Jayleen K. L. Gunn ◽  
Akosua K. Adu ◽  
Amanda J. Monroy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Surveys ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Association between women’s empowerment and infant and child feeding practices in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 3155-3165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muzi Na ◽  
Larissa Jennings ◽  
Sameera A Talegawkar ◽  
Saifuddin Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Meal Frequency ◽  
Child Feeding ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Minimum Dietary Diversity

AbstractObjectiveTo explore the relationship between women’s empowerment and WHO recommended infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in sub-Saharan Africa.DesignAnalysis was conducted using data from ten Demographic and Health Surveys between 2010 and 2013. Women’s empowerment was assessed by nine standard items covering three dimensions: economic, socio-familial and legal empowerment. Three core IYCF practices examined were minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet. Separate multivariable logistic regression models were applied for the IYCF practices on dimensional and overall empowerment in each country.SettingBenin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe.SubjectsYoungest singleton children aged 6–23 months and their mothers (n 15 153).ResultsLess than 35 %, 60 % and 18 % of children 6–23 months of age met the criterion of minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet, respectively. In general, likelihood of meeting the recommended IYCF criteria was positively associated with the economic dimension of women’s empowerment. Socio-familial empowerment was negatively associated with the three feeding criteria, except in Zimbabwe. The legal dimension of empowerment did not show any clear pattern in the associations. Greater overall empowerment of women was consistently and positively associated with multiple IYCF practices in Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. However, consistent negative relationships were found in Benin and Niger. Null or mixed results were observed in the remaining countries.ConclusionsThe importance of women’s empowerment for IYCF practices needs to be discussed by context and by dimension of empowerment.

scholarly journals Women’s Empowerment and HIV Testing Uptake: A Meta-analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys from 33 Sub-Saharan African Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-286
Author(s):  
Sanni Yaya ◽  
Gebretsadik Shibre ◽  
Dina Idriss-Wheeler ◽  
Olalekan A Uthman
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Hiv Testing ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Wife Beating ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Testing Uptake ◽  
Sub Saharan

Background: There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that women’s empowerment can help achieve better health behaviours and outcomes. However, few have looked at the impact of women’s empowerment on HIV testing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study investigated the association between women’s empowerment and HIV testing among women in 33 countries across SSA. Methods: Cross-sectional data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (2005-2018) of 33 countries in SSA were used. Confounder adjusted logistic regression analysis was completed separately for each of the 33 DHS datasets to produce the adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) for the association between women empowerment and HIV testing. The regression analysis strictly accounted for the three design elements (weight, cluster and strata) to produce an estimate representative of the respective countries. Finally, an Individual Participant Data (IPD) meta-analysis approach was used to statistically pool the effect of women empowerment on HIV testing. Results: There was a wide variation in the percentage of women who were empowered among the countries studied, with only a few countries such as South Africa, Angola and Ghana having a high prevalence of negative attitudes toward wife beating. HIV testing was higher in Angola, Lesotho, Uganda and South Africa. While participation in one or two of the three decisions had been marginally associated with lower odds of HIV testing across the SSA regions (0.89; 95%CI: 0.83, 0.97); the corresponding prediction interval crossed the null. Being involved in the three decisions (0.92; 95%CI: 0.84, 1.00) and disagreement to wife-beating (0.99; 95%CI: 0.94, 1.05) had no statistical relationship with HIV testing uptake. Conclusion and Global Health Implications: The two indirect indicators of women empowerment could not predict HIV testing uptake. Further studies are recommended to establish the nature of the relationship between HIV testing and women’s empowerment that is measured through standard tools. Key words: • HIV/AIDS prevention • Women • Empowerment • Gender equality • Global health • Sub-Saharan Africa   Copyright © 2020 Yaya et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.

scholarly journals Association of Women’s Empowerment With Anaemia and Haemoglobin Concentration in Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multilevel Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calistus Wilunda ◽  
Milkah Wanjohi ◽  
Risa Takahashi ◽  
Elizabeth Kimani-Murage ◽  
Antonina Mutoro
Keyword(s):  
Haemoglobin Concentration ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Hb Concentration ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The relationship between different dimensions of women's empowerment and childhood anaemia in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is unclear. We assessed the associations between women’s empowerment and anaemia and haemoglobin (Hb) concentration among children using data from 72,032 women and their singleton children aged 6-59 months from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2006 and 2019 in 31 SSA countries. Of the included children, 65.8% were anaemic and the mean Hb concentration was 102.3 g/dl (SD 16.1). The odds of anaemia in children reduced with increasing empowerment in the dimensions of attitude towards violence [quintile (Q1) vs. Q5, OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.71–0.89, Ptrend <0.001], decision making (Q1 vs. Q5, OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.59–0.79, Ptrend <0.001), education (Q1 vs. Q5, OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.72–0.89, Ptrend <0.001), and social independence (Q1 vs. Q5, OR 0.89; 95% CI 0.79–1.00, Ptrend <0.015). Similarly, children’s mean Hb concentration increased with increasing women’s empowerment in all the above dimensions. In conclusion, women empowerment was associated with reduced odds of anaemia and higher Hb concentration in children. Promotion of women's empowerment may reduce the burden of childhood anaemia in SSA.

Association of spousal violence and women’s empowerment status among the rural women of sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Asibul Islam Anik ◽  
Muhammad Ibrahim Ibne Towhid ◽  
M Atiqul Haque
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Spousal Violence ◽  
Index Of Inequality ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Spousal violence (SV) is a global problem for women and its elimination is one of the prime targets of Sustainable Development Goal-5. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of seventeen countries, representing two sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regions (East and Southern Africa [ESA] and West and Central Africa [WCA]), were used to examine the relationship between all types of SV and women’s empowerment status among rural married women aged 15–49 years. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore adjusted associations, and a relative index of inequality (RII) and slope index of inequality (SII) were used to measure the inequality in experiencing SV by rural women based on their overall empowerment position. Within the period 2015–2019, the reported rate of SV was higher in the ESA (physical SV: 33.55%; sexual SV: 16.96%; any type of SV: 46.14%) than the WCA countries (physical SV: 27.80%; sexual SV: 7.63%; any type of SV: 40.83%), except for emotional SV (WCA: 31.28% vs ESA: 29.35%). In terms of overall empowerment status, rural WCA women were slightly ahead of their counterparts in the ESA region (46.09% and 44.64%, respectively). For both ESA and WCA countries, women who didn’t justify violence and who had access to health care (except physical SV in WCA) showed negative but significant association with all types of SV in the adjusted analysis. Conversely, economic empowerment significantly increased the odds of experiencing physical and any type of SV in both regions. The significant risk ratios obtained from RII, for any SV were 0.83 and 1.09, and the β-coefficients from SII were –0.082 and 0.037 units, respectively, in ESA and WCA. Multi-sectoral microfinance-based intervening programmes and policies should be implemented regionally to empower women, especially in the economic, socio-culture, health care accessibility dimensions, and this will eventually reduce all types of spousal violence in rural SSA.

scholarly journals Associations between women’s empowerment and child development, growth, and nurturing care practices in sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-sectional analysis of demographic and health survey data

PLoS Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. e1003781
Author(s):  
Lilia Bliznashka ◽  
Ifeyinwa E. Udo ◽  
Christopher R. Sudfeld ◽  
Wafaie W. Fawzi ◽  
Aisha K. Yousafzai
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Child Development ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Physical Development ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Learning Resources ◽  
Sub Saharan

Background Approximately 40% of children 3 to 4 years of age in low- and middle-income countries have suboptimal development and growth. Women’s empowerment may help provide inputs of nurturing care for early development and growth by building caregiver capacity and family support. We examined the associations between women’s empowerment and child development, growth, early learning, and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods and findings We pooled data on married women (15 to 49 years) and their children (36 to 59 months) from Demographic and Health Surveys that collected data on child development (2011 to 2018) in 9 SSA countries (N = 21,434): Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, and Uganda. We constructed a women’s empowerment score using factor analysis and assigned women to country-specific quintile categories. The child outcomes included cognitive, socioemotional, literacy–numeracy, and physical development (Early Childhood Development Index), linear growth (height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) and stunting (HAZ <−2). Early learning outcomes were number of parental stimulation activities (range 0 to 6) and learning resources (range 0 to 4). The nutrition outcome was child dietary diversity score (DDS, range 0 to 7). We assessed the relationship between women’s empowerment and child development, growth, early learning, and nutrition using multivariate generalized linear models. On average, households in our sample were large (8.5 ± 5.7 members) and primarily living in rural areas (71%). Women were 31 ± 6.6 years on average, 54% had no education, and 31% had completed primary education. Children were 47 ± 7 months old and 49% were female. About 23% of children had suboptimal cognitive development, 31% had suboptimal socioemotional development, and 90% had suboptimal literacy–numeracy development. Only 9% of children had suboptimal physical development, but 35% were stunted. Approximately 14% of mothers and 3% of fathers provided ≥4 stimulation activities. Relative to the lowest quintile category, children of women in the highest empowerment quintile category were less likely to have suboptimal cognitive development (relative risk (RR) 0.89; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80, 0.99), had higher HAZ (mean difference (MD) 0.09; 95% CI 0.02, 0.16), lower risk of stunting (RR 0.93; 95% CI 0.87, 1.00), higher DDS (MD 0.17; 95% CI 0.06, 0.29), had 0.07 (95% CI 0.01, 0.13) additional learning resources, and received 0.16 (95% CI 0.06, 0.25) additional stimulation activities from their mothers and 0.23 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.29) additional activities from their fathers. We found no evidence that women’s empowerment was associated with socioemotional, literacy–numeracy, or physical development. Study limitations include the possibility of reverse causality and suboptimal assessments of the outcomes and exposure. Conclusions Women’s empowerment was positively associated with early child cognitive development, child growth, early learning, and nutrition outcomes in SSA. Efforts to improve child development and growth should consider women’s empowerment as a potential strategy.

Changing sex differences in undernutrition of African children: findings from Demographic and Health Surveys

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Michel Garenne ◽  
Susan Thurstans ◽  
André Briend ◽  
Carmel Dolan ◽  
Tanya Khara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Health Surveys ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Growth Charts ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Male To Female ◽  
Height For Age ◽  
Weight For Age

Abstract The study investigates sex differences in the prevalence of undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa. Undernutrition was defined by Z-scores using the CDC-2000 growth charts. Some 128 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) were analysed, totalling 700,114 children under-five. The results revealed a higher susceptibility of boys to undernutrition. Male-to-female ratios of prevalence averaged 1.18 for stunting (height-for-age Z-score <−2.0); 1.01 for wasting (weight-for-height Z-score <−2.0); 1.05 for underweight (weight-for-age Z-score <−2.0); and 1.29 for concurrent wasting and stunting (weight-for-height and height-for-age Z-scores <−2.0). Sex ratios of prevalence varied with age for stunting and concurrent wasting and stunting, with higher values for children age 0–23 months and lower values for children age 24–59 months. Sex ratios of prevalence tended to increase with declining level of mortality for stunting, underweight and concurrent wasting and stunting, but remained stable for wasting. Comparisons were made with other anthropometric reference sets (NCHS-1977 and WHO-2006), and the results were found to differ somewhat from those obtained with CDC-2000. Possible rationales for these patterns are discussed.

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