Women's empowerment in agriculture and child nutritional status in rural Nepal
Kenda Cunningham1, George B Ploubidis1, Purnima Menon2
11Department of Population Health, Faculty of Epidemiology,London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,Keppel Street,London WC1E 7HT,UK.
Objective:
To examine the association between women's empowerment in agriculture and nutritional status among children under 2 years of age in rural Nepal.
Design:
Cross-sectional survey of 4080 households conducted in 2012. Data collected included: child and maternal anthropometric measurements; child age and sex; maternal age, education, occupation and empowerment in agriculture; and household size, number of children, religion, caste and agro-ecological zone. Associations between the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)'s Five Domains of Empowerment (5DE) sub-index and its ten component indicators and child length-for-age Z-scores (LAZ) and weight-for-length Z-scores (WLZ) were estimated, using ordinary least-squares regression models, with and without adjustments for key child, maternal and household level covariates.
Setting:
Two hundred and forty rural communities across sixteen districts of Nepal.
Subjects:
Children under 24 months of age and their mothers (n 1787).
Results:
The overall WEAI 5DE was positively associated with LAZ (β=0·20, P=0·04). Three component indicators were also positively associated with LAZ: satisfaction with leisure time (β=0·27, P<0·01), access to and decisions regarding credit (β=0·20, P=0·02) and autonomy in production (β=0·10, P=0·04). No indicator of women's empowerment in agriculture was associated with WLZ.
Conclusions:
Women's empowerment in agriculture, as measured by the WEAI 5DE and three of its ten component indicators, was significantly associated with LAZ, highlighting the potential role of women's empowerment in improving child nutrition in Nepal. Additional studies are needed to determine whether interventions to improve women's empowerment will improve child nutrition.
More Related Videos
08:10Neuroimaging Field Methods Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy NIRS Neuroimaging to Study Global Child Development: Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
Published on: February 2, 2018
10:57Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children
Published on: August 22, 2012
Related Concept Videos
02:35Key Elements for Plant Nutrition
01:28Anorexia Nervosa
Symptoms and Physical Effects
Individuals with anorexia nervosa commonly exhibit extreme...
01:26Methods Of Healthcare Delivery System
Managed Care System:
The managed care system is designed to control the cost while maintaining the quality of care. The patient's care from admission to discharge is planned by the primary care provider or the case manager, also known as the gatekeeper. In a managed care system, the number of care providers is...
01:43Sustainable Development
01:30Specialized Care Centers and Settings-II
Rural health centers are specialized care facilities in remote locations with very few medical personnel. The primary care providers who run the centers are mostly Registered Nurse Practitioners. Here, emergency treatment is provided to critically ill or injured patients before they are transferred to the closest hospital. Fortunately, due to advancement in technology, many rural healthcare facilities and professionals have easy access to diagnostic and treatment...
01:27Microorganisms in Agriculture and Food industry