Estimated effect of age of marriage on utilisation of India's Integrated Child Development Service programme.
CHILD HEALTH
EPIDEMIOLOGY
HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT
HEALTH POLICY
PUBLIC HEALTH
Journal
Journal of epidemiology and community health
ISSN: 1470-2738
Titre abrégé: J Epidemiol Community Health
Pays: England
ID NLM: 7909766
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
11 Dec 2023
11 Dec 2023
Historique:
received:
24
08
2023
accepted:
01
12
2023
medline:
21
12
2023
pubmed:
21
12
2023
entrez:
20
12
2023
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Age of marriage among women is considered an important indicator of their readiness for familial integration and parenting. This study estimated the effect of age of marriage of young mothers (aged 15-24 years) on utilisation of various services for their children, provided under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme in India. Data from the nationally representative 2019-2021 National Family Health Survey of India were analysed. Mothers' age of menarche was used as an instrumental variable to isolate the effect of age of marriage on whether their children received (1) food, (2) health check-up, (3) immunisation, (4) early childhood care or preschooling or (5) weight measurement services from ICDS. Nationally, 67.9% (95% CI 67.6%, 68.3%) of children received food (sample: 60 578), 61.8% (95% CI 61.4%, 62.1%) received a health check-up (sample: 60 316), 60.0% (95% CI 59.6%, 60.4%) received immunisation services (sample: 60 537), 52.0% (95% CI 51.6%, 52.4%) received early childhood care or preschooling (sample: 60 458) and 62.9% (95% CI 62.5%, 63.3%) received weight measurement services (sample: 60 278). Findings from instrumental variable analysis suggest that a 1-year increase in age of marriage could yield a 9 percentage point increase (95% CI 4%-13%; p<0.001) in utilisation of immunisation services. Although postponement of marriage positively affected utilisation of each of the other four ICDS components, these effects were not statistically significant. Postponing age of marriage among young women is an effective intervention for promoting uptake of child immunisation services. Our findings support the Government of India's 2021 Bill to raise legal age of marriage of women.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Age of marriage among women is considered an important indicator of their readiness for familial integration and parenting. This study estimated the effect of age of marriage of young mothers (aged 15-24 years) on utilisation of various services for their children, provided under the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme in India.
METHODS
METHODS
Data from the nationally representative 2019-2021 National Family Health Survey of India were analysed. Mothers' age of menarche was used as an instrumental variable to isolate the effect of age of marriage on whether their children received (1) food, (2) health check-up, (3) immunisation, (4) early childhood care or preschooling or (5) weight measurement services from ICDS.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Nationally, 67.9% (95% CI 67.6%, 68.3%) of children received food (sample: 60 578), 61.8% (95% CI 61.4%, 62.1%) received a health check-up (sample: 60 316), 60.0% (95% CI 59.6%, 60.4%) received immunisation services (sample: 60 537), 52.0% (95% CI 51.6%, 52.4%) received early childhood care or preschooling (sample: 60 458) and 62.9% (95% CI 62.5%, 63.3%) received weight measurement services (sample: 60 278). Findings from instrumental variable analysis suggest that a 1-year increase in age of marriage could yield a 9 percentage point increase (95% CI 4%-13%; p<0.001) in utilisation of immunisation services. Although postponement of marriage positively affected utilisation of each of the other four ICDS components, these effects were not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
Postponing age of marriage among young women is an effective intervention for promoting uptake of child immunisation services. Our findings support the Government of India's 2021 Bill to raise legal age of marriage of women.
Identifiants
pubmed: 38123986
pii: jech-2023-221325
doi: 10.1136/jech-2023-221325
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.