Is women's empowerment associated with coverage of RMNCH interventions in low- and middle-income countries? An analysis using a survey-based empowerment indicator, the SWPER.
Journal
Journal of global health
ISSN: 2047-2986
Titre abrégé: J Glob Health
Pays: Scotland
ID NLM: 101578780
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 Mar 2021
01 Mar 2021
Historique:
entrez:
1
4
2021
pubmed:
2
4
2021
medline:
19
8
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Women's empowerment has a strong potential to promote sustainable development. We evaluate the association between women's empowerment and the Composite Coverage Index (CCI), a weighted average of coverage of eight interventions in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). We also assess whether these effects are modified by wealth. We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 62 low- and middle-income countries. Women's empowerment was measured using the three domains (attitude to violence, social independence and decision making) of the survey-based indicator of women's empowerment (SWPER). Analyses followed an ecological design. Meta-regression models were used to account for within-country uncertainty in the CCI. We also carried out meta-regression with wealth quintiles of households as the units of analyses and tested for interaction between wealth and each empowerment domain. We found positive associations between the three domains of SWPER and CCI at the country level. One standard deviation change in empowerment increased the CCI by 14.2 percentage points (attitude to violence), 15.3 percentage points (decision-making), and 16.3 percentage points (social independence). The association between social independence and CCI was modified by wealth: each additional standard deviation was associated with 21.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 14.0-29.6) and 8.7 (95% CI = 5.4-12.0) percentage points increase in the CCI among the poorest and the richest quintiles, respectively. Our findings suggest that efforts toward the achievement of SDG5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) may support improvements in RMNCH in low- and middle-income countries, especially among the poorest women and children.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Women's empowerment has a strong potential to promote sustainable development. We evaluate the association between women's empowerment and the Composite Coverage Index (CCI), a weighted average of coverage of eight interventions in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). We also assess whether these effects are modified by wealth.
METHODS
METHODS
We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 62 low- and middle-income countries. Women's empowerment was measured using the three domains (attitude to violence, social independence and decision making) of the survey-based indicator of women's empowerment (SWPER). Analyses followed an ecological design. Meta-regression models were used to account for within-country uncertainty in the CCI. We also carried out meta-regression with wealth quintiles of households as the units of analyses and tested for interaction between wealth and each empowerment domain.
RESULTS
RESULTS
We found positive associations between the three domains of SWPER and CCI at the country level. One standard deviation change in empowerment increased the CCI by 14.2 percentage points (attitude to violence), 15.3 percentage points (decision-making), and 16.3 percentage points (social independence). The association between social independence and CCI was modified by wealth: each additional standard deviation was associated with 21.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 14.0-29.6) and 8.7 (95% CI = 5.4-12.0) percentage points increase in the CCI among the poorest and the richest quintiles, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that efforts toward the achievement of SDG5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) may support improvements in RMNCH in low- and middle-income countries, especially among the poorest women and children.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33791094
doi: 10.7189/jogh.11.04015
pii: jogh-11-04015
pmc: PMC7979155
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
04015Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2021 by the Journal of Global Health. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE Unified Conflict of Interest Form (available upon request from the corresponding author), and declare no further conflicts of interest.
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