Hadi A
Research and Evaluation Division, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Health Promot Int. 2001 Sep;16(3):219-27. doi: 10.1093/heapro/16.3.219.
This paper aims to assess the contribution of the micro-credit programme in raising health knowledge among poor women in rural Bangladesh. Data were collected from the 1998 sample survey of 500 mothers aged 15-49 years who had at least one child aged <5 years. Findings revealed that the socio-demographic factors such as the age of the woman, land ownership of the family and occupation of husband had no association with the prevalence of maternal knowledge. The knowledge was much greater among credit forum participants than non-participants, although exposure to the media and the education of women had also played a significant role in raising the level of knowledge. Multivariate analysis suggested that the duration of credit programme participation and exposure to the media were significantly more likely to raise the health knowledge among women when the influence of demographic and socio-economic factors were controlled. The paper concludes that the micro-credit programme can be an effective tool in promoting health among poor women in Bangladesh.
本文旨在评估小额信贷项目对提高孟加拉国农村贫困妇女健康知识水平的贡献。数据收集自1998年对500名年龄在15至49岁之间且至少有一个年龄小于5岁孩子的母亲的抽样调查。研究结果显示,诸如妇女年龄、家庭土地所有权和丈夫职业等社会人口因素与孕产妇知识普及率并无关联。信贷论坛参与者的知识水平远高于非参与者,尽管接触媒体和妇女受教育程度在提高知识水平方面也发挥了重要作用。多变量分析表明,在控制人口和社会经济因素影响的情况下,参与信贷项目的时长和接触媒体显著更有可能提高妇女的健康知识水平。本文得出结论,小额信贷项目可以成为促进孟加拉国贫困妇女健康的有效工具。