scholarly journals Women’s Empowerment and Infant and Child Health Status in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Kibret Abreha ◽  
Yacob Abrehe Zereyesus
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
And Child Health

Abstract Introduction Although many studies have examined the relationship between women’s empowerment and a wide range of health outcomes, the extent to which the different dimensions of empowerment influence children’s health, and through which mechanisms and in what contexts, is limited in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this review is to systematically assess and examine studies that investigated the association between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods A systematic review of the published literature is searched through PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus databases focusing on different measures of women’s empowerment and children’s health outcomes. Inclusion criteria in the review are studies that are published in English; full and original articles; studies measuring at least one dimension of women’s empowerment and children’s health outcomes; and Sub-Saharan African context. Studies included in this review are articles published between the year 2000 and 2019. Studies were excluded if the source was a letter, editorial, review, commentary, abstracts without providing full information about the study. Results Initially 4718 citations were identified. Finally, 15 studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In general, the evidence suggests that women’s empowerment at the household level is positively and statistically significantly associated with better children’s health outcomes in sub-Saharan African countries. The review also reveals that women’s decision-making power or autonomy is the most common measure of women’s empowerment employed by many studies. Conclusions Future related studies would benefit by incorporating additional aspects of women's empowerment and child health outcomes.

scholarly journals Does Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Matter for Children’s Health Status? Insights from Northern Ghana

2016 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
pp. 1265-1280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yacob A. Zereyesus ◽  
Vincent Amanor-Boadu ◽  
Kara L. Ross ◽  
Aleksan Shanoyan
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Northern Ghana

scholarly journals Associations between women’s empowerment and children’s health status in Ethiopia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. e0235825
Author(s):  
Solomon Kibret Abreha ◽  
Solomon Zena Walelign ◽  
Yacob Abrehe Zereyesus
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Children’S Health

scholarly journals Effectiveness of pretend medical play in improving children’s health outcomes and well-being: a systematic review

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e041506
Author(s):  
Aneesa Abdul Rashid ◽  
Ai Theng Cheong ◽  
Ranita Hisham ◽  
Nurainul Hana Shamsuddin ◽  
Dalila Roslan
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Healthcare Setting ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Anxiety Levels

BackgroundThe healthcare setting is stressful for many people, especially children. Efforts are needed to mitigate children’s healthcare-related anxiety. Medical play using the Teddy Bear Hospital (TBH) concept can expose children to healthcare settings and help them develop positive experiences in these settings. In this role-playing game, children bring their soft toys and act as parents to the ‘sick’ teddies in a pretend hospital or clinic play setting. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of the TBH in improving children’s health outcomes and well-being.MethodsWe searched the reference lists of included studies from four electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and Google Scholar) from inception until November 2020. We included pre-post, quasiexperimental and case–control studies, as well as randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that discussed medical play using the TBH concept as an intervention. Studies that involved sick patients and used interventions unlike the TBH were excluded. We assessed the quality of the included studies using the Cochrane Collaboration’s ‘Risk of bias’ tool.ResultsTen studies were included in this systematic review. Five specifically investigated the TBH method, while the others involved the same concept of medical play. Only three studies were RCTs. All of the studies report more than one outcome—mostly positive outcomes. Two report lower anxiety levels after intervention. Two found better healthcare knowledge, with one reporting increased feelings of happiness regarding visiting a doctor. Two studies found no change in anxiety or feelings, while another two found increased levels of fear and lowered mood after the medical play (which involved real medical equipment).ConclusionsThe practice of TBH has mostly positive outcomes, with lower anxiety levels and improved healthcare knowledge. Its effectiveness should be verified in future studies using a more robust methodology.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019106355.

scholarly journals Association between women’s empowerment and infant and child feeding practices in sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 3155-3165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muzi Na ◽  
Larissa Jennings ◽  
Sameera A Talegawkar ◽  
Saifuddin Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Meal Frequency ◽  
Child Feeding ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Minimum Dietary Diversity

AbstractObjectiveTo explore the relationship between women’s empowerment and WHO recommended infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in sub-Saharan Africa.DesignAnalysis was conducted using data from ten Demographic and Health Surveys between 2010 and 2013. Women’s empowerment was assessed by nine standard items covering three dimensions: economic, socio-familial and legal empowerment. Three core IYCF practices examined were minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet. Separate multivariable logistic regression models were applied for the IYCF practices on dimensional and overall empowerment in each country.SettingBenin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe.SubjectsYoungest singleton children aged 6–23 months and their mothers (n 15 153).ResultsLess than 35 %, 60 % and 18 % of children 6–23 months of age met the criterion of minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency and minimum acceptable diet, respectively. In general, likelihood of meeting the recommended IYCF criteria was positively associated with the economic dimension of women’s empowerment. Socio-familial empowerment was negatively associated with the three feeding criteria, except in Zimbabwe. The legal dimension of empowerment did not show any clear pattern in the associations. Greater overall empowerment of women was consistently and positively associated with multiple IYCF practices in Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. However, consistent negative relationships were found in Benin and Niger. Null or mixed results were observed in the remaining countries.ConclusionsThe importance of women’s empowerment for IYCF practices needs to be discussed by context and by dimension of empowerment.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE ON HOUSEHOLD FARM COMMERCIALIZATION OF MAIZE, POTATOES AND BEANS IN NORTHERN PROVINCE OF RWANDA

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olive Uwineza ◽  
Job Lagat ◽  
Risper M Berem
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Northern Province ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Government ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
Agriculture And Food

In Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural commercialization is a major factor in household food diversification and household income. To move to agricultural transformation, Rwanda has focused on shifting from subsistence-based farming to market-oriented agriculture. Various studies have been conducted on agricultural commercialization, however, women’s role in the commercialization of agriculture has received little attention and none of the studies have associated it with women’s empowerment in agriculture. In Rwanda, women are principal players in agriculture and food security, therefore, it is important to understand the influence of their empowerment in agriculture on its commercialization. To investigate the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural commercialization, the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) was used to measure women’s empowerment in agriculture. A sample size of 252 households from Musanze and Burera districts in the Northern Province of Rwanda was used. It was obtained using the multistage and random sampling techniques. To analyze data, a fractional regression model was used. The results revealed that farm commercialization in Rwanda was positively and significantly influenced by WEAI score, farm size and the prices of maize, potatoes and beans. On the other hand, the index has a negative relationship with access to extension services. It is recommended that the government should strengthen policies of empowering women in agriculture.

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