scholarly journals Association of increased duration of legislated paid maternity leave with childhood diarrhoea prevalence in low-income and middle-income countries: difference-in-differences analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 437-444
Author(s):  
Yan Chai ◽  
Arijit Nandi ◽  
Jody Heymann
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Bloody Diarrhoea ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Childhood Diarrhoea ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Maternity Leave Policy ◽  
Children Under 5

BackgroundDiarrhoea is the second-leading infectious cause of death in children younger than age 5 years. The global burden of severe diarrhoeal disease is concentrated in Africa and Southeast Asia, where a significant percentage of the population resides in low-resource settings. We aimed to quantitatively examine whether extending the duration of legislated paid maternity leave affected the prevalence of childhood diarrhoea in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe merged longitudinal data measuring national maternity leave policies with information on the prevalence of bloody diarrhoea related to 884 517 live births occurring between 1996 and 2014 in 40 LMICs that participated at least twice in the Demographic and Health Surveys between 2000 and 2015. We used a difference-in-differences approach to compare changes in the percentage of children with bloody diarrhoea across eight countries that lengthened their paid maternity leave policy between 1995 and 2013 to the 32 countries that did not.ResultsThe prevalence of bloody diarrhoea in the past 2 weeks was 168 (SD=40) per 10 000 children under 5 years in countries that changed their policies and 136 (SD=15) in countries that did not. A 1-month increase in the legislated duration of paid maternity leave was associated with 61 fewer cases of bloody diarrhoea (95% CI −98.86 to −22.86) per 10 000 children under 5 years of age, representing a 36% relative reduction.ConclusionExtending the duration of paid maternity leave policy appears to reduce the prevalence of bloody diarrhoea in children under 5 years of age in LMICs.

scholarly journals Does Enhancing Paid Maternity Leave Policy Help Promote Gender Equality? Evidence from 31 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Gender Issues ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Chai ◽  
Vanessa Ríos-Salas ◽  
Pam Stek ◽  
Jody Heymann
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Economic Decision ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Economic Decision Making ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Maternity Leave Policy ◽  
The Impact

AbstractGlobally, women continue to have less economic decision-making power and face gender-unequal norms at work. Little is known about the impact of national public policies on norms surrounding equality. We examined the impact of extending paid maternity leave policy on decision making in the household and gender norms in the workplace, specifically whether women have sole or joint decision-making power with respect to large household purchases and whether women are perceived as having an equal right to jobs when jobs are scarce. We used difference-in-differences models to analyze the impact of increasing paid maternity leave on outcomes measured in the Demographic Health Surveys and World Values Surveys collected in 31 low- and middle-income countries. A one-month increase in the legislated duration of paid maternity leave increased the odds that women and their partners/spouses reported that women had more decision-making power by 40% (95% CI 1.14, 1.70) and 66% (95% CI 1.36, 2.03), respectively. A one-month increase in the legislated duration of paid maternity leave was associated with 41.5 percentage-point increase in the prevalence of individuals disagreeing with the statement that “when jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women.” More generous maternity leave increases gender equality in economic decision making in the household and improves gender norms related to work. Future studies should examine the impact of paternity leave and non-discrimination policy, as well as other large-scale policies aiming to improve gender equality at work and at home.

scholarly journals Does extending the duration of legislated paid maternity leave improve breastfeeding practices? Evidence from 38 low-income and middle-income countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. e001032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Chai ◽  
Arijit Nandi ◽  
Jody Heymann
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Exclusive Breastfeeding ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Early Initiation ◽  
Breastfeeding Duration ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Percentage Point Increase ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Initiation Of Breastfeeding

IntroductionAmong all barriers to breastfeeding, the need to work has been cited as one of the top reasons for not breastfeeding overall and for early weaning among mothers who seek to breastfeed. We aimed to examine whether extending the duration of paid maternity leave available to new mothers affected early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding under 6  months and breastfeeding duration in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsWe merged longitudinal data measuring national maternity leave policies with information on breastfeeding related to 992 419 live births occurring between 1996 and 2014 in 38 LMICs that participated in the Demographic and Health Surveys. We used a difference-in-differences approach to compare changes in the prevalence of early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, as well as the duration of breastfeeding, among treated countries that lengthened their paid maternity leave policy between 1995 and 2013 versus control countries that did not. Regression models included country and year fixed effects, as well as measured individual-level, household-level and country-level covariates. All models incorporated robust SEs and respondent-level sampling weights.ResultsA 1-month increase in the legislated duration of paid maternity leave was associated with a 7.4 percentage point increase (95%  CI 3.2 to 11.7) in the prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding, a 5.9 percentage point increase (95%  CI 2.0 to 9.8) in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding and a 2.2- month increase (95%  CI 1.1 to 3.4) in breastfeeding duration.ConclusionExtending the duration of legislated paid maternity leave appears to promote breastfeeding practices in LMICs. Our findings suggest a potential mechanism to reduce barriers to breastfeeding for working mothers.

scholarly journals The effect of paid maternity leave on early childhood growth in low-income and middle-income countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. e000294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa Jahagirdar ◽  
Sam Harper ◽  
Jody Heymann ◽  
Hema Swaminathan ◽  
Arnab Mukherji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Childhood Growth ◽  
Middle Income Countries

scholarly journals A novel development indicator based on population-average height trajectories of children aged 0–5 years modelled using 145 surveys in 64 countries, 2000–2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. e004107
Author(s):  
Eric O Ohuma ◽  
Diego G Bassani ◽  
Huma Qamar ◽  
Seungmi Yang ◽  
Daniel E Roth
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Linear Growth ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Child Growth ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Average Height ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Children Under 5

IntroductionChildren’s growth status is an important measure commonly used as a proxy indicator of advancements in a country’s health, human capital and economic development. We aimed to assess the feasibility of using Super-Imposition by Translation And Rotation (SITAR) models for summarising population-based cross-sectional height-by-age data of children under 5 years across 64 countries.MethodsUsing 145 publicly available Demographic and Health Surveys of children under 5 years across 64 low-income and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2018, we created a multicountry pseudo-longitudinal dataset of children’s heights.ResultsSITAR models including two parameters (size and intensity) explained 81% of the between-survey variation in mean boys’ height and 80% in mean girls’ height. Size parameters for boys and girls (relative to the WHO child growth standards) were distributed non-normally around a mean of −5.2 cm for boys (range: −7.9 cm to −1.6 cm) and −4.9 cm for girls (range: −7.7 cm to −1.2 cm). Boys exhibited 10% slower linear growth compared with the WHO (range: 19.7% slower to 1.6% faster) and girls 11% slower linear growth compared with the WHO (range: 21.4% slower to 1.0% faster). Variation in the SITAR size parameter was ≥90% explained by the combination of average length within the first 60 days of birth (as a proxy for fetal growth) and intensity, regardless of sex, with much greater contribution by postnatal intensity (r≥0.89 between size and intensity).ConclusionsSITAR models with two random effects can be used to model child linear growth using multicountry pseudo-longitudinal data, and thereby provide a feasible alternative approach to summarising early childhood height trajectories based on survey data. The SITAR intensity parameter may be a novel indicator for specifically tracking progress in the determinants of postnatal growth in low-income and middle-income countries.

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