Soharwardi Mariam Abbas, Malik Najma Iqbal, Anjum Razia, Haleem Muhammad Sohaib, Leghari Inam Ullah, Ahmad Jam Bilal, Maryam Rohma, Nazir Maimoona, Fatima Saireen, Ahmed Farooq, Tang Kun
Department of Economics, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan.
Department of Psychology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 33600, Pakistan.
Children (Basel). 2025 May 4;12(5):597. doi: 10.3390/children12050597.
Malnutrition among expectant mothers in underdeveloped areas is abundant and a serious public health concern. This study examines how maternal empowerment affects nutritional outcomes among under-five children in developing Asian nations.
With an emphasis on nutritional outcomes, including stunting, wasting, and underweight, the main objective of this study is to investigate the connection between mother empowerment and child malnutrition and explore how better child health in developing Asian nations can be achieved through empowering mothers.
Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data of ten emerging Asian countries from three regions of Asia, this study evaluates maternal empowerment using the composite maternal empowerment index (CMEI) and examines how it relates to children's nutritional health. For the assessment of the significance of the association between maternal empowerment and child health outcomes, statistical analysis was conducted.
Our results indicated that maternal empowerment and child health have a statistically significant relationship, especially regarding a reduction in the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight conditions in children. At the same time, maternal education showed a significant role in reducing malnutrition in children in all three regions of Asia.
In conclusion, developing Asian nations require empowering women. Also, it is essential to initiate nutrition programs, extension education, and synergistic working models that are especially suited to rural women. By strengthening mothers' roles in promoting their children's health, these initiatives can help solve the widespread problem of child malnutrition.
欠发达地区孕妇营养不良的情况很普遍，是一个严重的公共卫生问题。本研究考察了孕产妇赋权如何影响亚洲发展中国家五岁以下儿童的营养状况。
本研究主要关注包括发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足在内的营养状况，旨在调查孕产妇赋权与儿童营养不良之间的联系，并探索如何通过增强母亲的权能来改善亚洲发展中国家儿童的健康状况。
本研究使用来自亚洲三个地区的十个新兴亚洲国家的人口与健康调查（DHS）数据，通过综合孕产妇赋权指数（CMEI）评估孕产妇赋权情况，并考察其与儿童营养健康的关系。为评估孕产妇赋权与儿童健康结果之间关联的显著性，进行了统计分析。
我们的结果表明，孕产妇赋权与儿童健康存在统计学上的显著关系，特别是在降低儿童发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足状况的患病率方面。同时，在亚洲所有三个地区，母亲的教育在减少儿童营养不良方面都发挥了重要作用。
总之，亚洲发展中国家需要增强妇女权能。此外，启动特别适合农村妇女的营养项目、推广教育和协同工作模式至关重要。通过强化母亲在促进子女健康方面的作用，这些举措有助于解决普遍存在的儿童营养不良问题。
