College of Health Science, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia.
College of Health Sciences, Arsi University, Asela, Ethiopia.
BMC Womens Health. 2021 Jan 30;21(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s12905-021-01183-x.
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.
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).
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.
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.
尽管各国和国际社会做出了许多努力来减轻儿童生长迟缓问题，但它仍然是一个全球性的健康挑战。越来越多的文献认识到妇女赋权在广泛的公共卫生主题中的重要性，例如孕产妇保健服务的利用、农业生产力和儿童营养。然而，在埃塞俄比亚，妇女赋权与儿童营养状况之间的关系在国家层面上尚未得到研究。本研究旨在确定埃塞俄比亚妇女赋权与 5 岁以下儿童生长迟缓之间的关系。
本分析的数据源是 2016 年埃塞俄比亚人口与健康调查（EDHS）：一项关于医疗保健的全国代表性家庭调查。EDHS 采用了两阶段分层集群抽样技术。我们按照基于调查的妇女赋权指数方法计算了标准的妇女赋权指数。使用考虑到集群水平随机效应的多水平逻辑回归模型来估计妇女赋权与儿童生长迟缓（发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足）之间的关联。
对暴力的态度、社会独立性和决策是与儿童生长迟缓相关的三个妇女赋权领域。赋权的每个领域增加一个标准差与发育迟缓的几率降低相关：对暴力的态度（AOR=0.92；95%CI 0.88-0.96；p<0.001）、社会独立性（AOR=0.95；95%CI 0.89-0.99；p=0.049）和决策（AOR=0.93；95%CI 0.87-0.99；p=0.023）。同样，对暴力的态度（AOR=0.93；95%CI 0.89-0.98；p=0.008）、社会独立性（AOR=0.91；95%CI 0.86-0.97；p=0.002）和决策（AOR=0.92；95%CI 0.86-0.99；p=0.020）的每个标准差增加与消瘦儿童的几率降低相关。
确保妇女在家庭和社区中的赋权，有可能降低像埃塞俄比亚这样快速发展的国家的发育迟缓率和消瘦率。政策制定者和卫生专业人员需要在这一独特背景下考虑妇女赋权问题，以改善儿童的营养状况并减轻生长迟缓问题。
