Women In Households Research Articles

Determinants of Fertility Intentions among South Koreans: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

(1) Background/objectives: This study aims to systematically review and conduct a meta-analysis of factors influencing fertility intentions among South Koreans. This research is crucial given South Korea's lowest-in-the-world fertility rate of 0.72 in 2023, necessitating rapid and effective policies to address this demographic challenge; (2) Methods: Articles published from database inception through April 2024 were collected from five Korean databases using keywords based on the PEO (Population, Exposure, Outcome) framework. Following PRISMA guidelines, 35 articles were selected. The effect sizes and network of predictors related to fertility intention were analyzed using the R statistical package; (3) Results: A meta-analysis of the effect sizes of factors influencing fertility intentions revealed that the husband's involvement in parenting (ESr = 0.131), women's education level (ESr = 0.127), socioeconomic status (ESr = 0.116), and the expected gender of the child (ESr = 0.068) showed statistically significant positive effects. Conversely, women's age (ESr = -0.175), parental stress (ESr = -0.146), and household labor ratio (ESr = -0.117) showed statistically significant negative effects. The network analysis further elucidated the complex interrelationships among these factors; (4) Conclusions: This study suggests the need for multifaceted policy approaches to address Korea's low fertility, emphasizing promoting men's participation in parenting, supporting women's education and career development, reducing parenting stress, supporting work-family balance, and ensuring economic stability. These findings provide important insights for policymakers and researchers addressing the complex issue of low fertility in South Korea and may inform more effective interventions to boost fertility rates.

Increased food crop diversification and gathering of wild plants associated with women's dietary diversity in Chad.

Women of reproductive age are particularly vulnerable to low-quality diets due to their higher micronutrients needs. The minimum dietary diversity for women (MDDW) is a proxy for micronutrient adequacy in this group of women. Its relationship with other aspects that lead to malnutrition is not fully elucidated and depends on the context. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of MDDW among women of a rural area in Chad and its association with socioeconomical, agricultural, dietary and food security data. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Following a multistage cluster sampling, 984 women of reproductive age were randomly selected and interviewed in March 2019. We obtained food consumption data through unquantified 24 h recalls and computed MDDW as consuming at least five out of 10 predefined food groups. We constructed a Food Production Diversity Score (FPDS) with crop and livestock information. We obtained multivariable logistic regression models including different covariates. MDDW was achieved by only 33% of women in the sample. In our final model, we identified a significant association of MDDW with the FPDS and gathering ofwild plants. Women in households with the highest FPDS had 70% more chances of achieving MDDW than those with the lowest FPDS. Gathering wild plants doubled these chances. Areas of cultivated land,Water, Sanitation and Hygiene resources, and a high level of food security, measured with the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale,were also significantly related to the achievement of MDDW. This illustrates the importance of nutrition-sensitive policies, also considering biodiversity and food production diversification.

Inequalities in the demand and unmet need for contraception among women in four regions of Ethiopia.

Unmet need for family planning is a major cause of unwanted pregnancies, which may contribute to the death of mothers and children. The aim of this study is to examine inequalities in the demand and unmet need for contraception among women in four regions (i.e., Afar, Benishangul-Gumzu, Gambela and Somali regions) of Ethiopia. The study utilized data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS), collected from 3,343 women of reproductive age 15-49 years situated in these study regions. Multilevel binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis, concentration index, and multivariate decomposition analysis were employed. The study revealed that women's employment status, education level, household wealth index, total number of children ever born, and husband's working status had a statistically significant association with the demand for contraception. Furthermore, women's educational level, household size, wealth index and husband's working status had statistically significant association with unmet need for contraception. The results of the concentration index indicated that illiteracy among respondents (56%), being in the richest economic status/ wealth index (41%) and non-working status of respondents (21%) contributed substantially to the inequality in the demand for contraception use. Illiteracy of the husband (197%) and the household size less than or equal to five (184%) contributed positively, but illiteracy of respondent (-249%) and unemployment status of respondents (-119%) contributed negatively to the existing inequality in unmet need for contraception. The findings of this study highlight the presence of unacceptably high inequality in the demand and unmet need for contraception among women in the four study regions. Policymakers should give due attention to reducing existing socio-economic inequality to address the high unmet need for family planning and increase demand for contraception in these regions. The study strongly recommends implementing multidimensional and multisectoral approaches, which will significantly reduce inequalities in the outcome variables.

Husbands and wives: power, peril and female participation in a Ugandan coffee cooperative

PurposeFemale smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to the income and productivity of small-scale producers, evidence of cooperatives' social and economic empowerment of female smallholders remains limited. We apply Sen's capability approach to female entrepreneurs' socioeconomic empowerment to examine whether women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative from rural western Uganda benefits their social and economic position within their household. First, we study the relationship between women's cooperative participation and their household coffee sales and savings. Second, we investigate the link between women's cooperative participation and their intra-household decision-making and whether the inclusion of the husband in his wife's cooperative strengthens or lowers women's decision-making power.Design/methodology/approachWe carry out a case study of a hybrid coffee and microfinance cooperative that promotes social innovation through the integration and empowerment of female smallholders in rural Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey of 411 married female cooperative members from 26 randomly selected self-help groups of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative and 196 female non-members from the identical area, employing propensity score matching, this paper investigates the benefits of women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda. We present and discuss the results of our case study within an extensive literature on the role of institutions in collective action for women's empowerment.FindingsOur findings provide new empirical evidence on female smallholders' participation in mixed cooperatives. Our results indicate that women's participation in microfinance-producer cooperatives appears to be a conditional blessing: even though membership is linked to increased women's intra-household decision-making and raised household savings and income from coffee sales, a wife with a husband in the same cooperative self-help group is associated with diminished women's household decision-making power.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus of this study is on female coffee smallholders in an agricultural cooperative in rural western Uganda. In particular, we focus on a case study of one major coffee cooperative. Our cross-sectional survey does not allow us to infer causal interpretations. Also, the survey does not include variables that allow us to measure other dimensions of women's empowerment beyond decision-making over household expenditures and women's financial performance related to savings and income from coffee cultivation.Practical implicationsOur empirical results indicate that female smallholders' cooperative membership is associated with higher incomes and coffee sales. However, husband co-participation in their wives' cooperative group diminishes wives' decision-making, which suggests that including husbands and other family members in the same cooperative group may not be perceived as an attractive route to empowerment for female smallholders. For these reasons, an intervention that encourages the cooperation of both spouses and that is sensitive to context-specific gender inequalities, may be more successful at stimulating social change toward household gender equality than interventions that focus on women's autonomous spheres only.Originality/valueWhile the literature thus far has focused on microfinance's potential for women's empowerment, evidence on agricultural cooperatives' affecting women's social and economic position is limited. First, our findings provide novel empirical evidence on the empowering effects of women's participation in a self-help group-based coffee cooperative in rural Uganda. Second, our data allows us to explore the role of husbands' participation in their wives' cooperative and SGH. We embed our hypotheses and empirical results in a rich discussion of female entrepreneurship, microfinance and cooperative literature.

Participation in livestock-based interventions and its impact on food security in Bangladesh: A quasi-experimental method

Livestock-based interventions play a critical role in enhancing food security in developing countries like Bangladesh, contributing to enhanced livestock productivity, improved household income, ensured food security, women's empowerment, livelihoods advancement, and positioning agriculture as a catalyst for economic growth. The study specifically examines the impact of the livestock and dairy development project (LDDP) intervention on food security in rural livestock farming households in Bangladesh. We gathered data, we are employing simple random sampling, and collecting 180 cross-sectional primary data from both LDDP participants and non-participants. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and propensity score matching approaches were utilized to achieve our research objectives. Livestock farming households with LDDP participants exhibited higher food security, with beneficiaries surpassing non-participants by 52 % and 40 %, respectively. The mean per capita calorie intake for LDDP participant households was 1966.134 (Kcal), whereas non-participant households recorded 1762.130 (Kcal). The results demonstrate that LDDP intervention significantly and positively impacts food security, women's empowerment, household welfare, and income. These interventions have the potential to enhance nutrition and boost household income, thereby contributing to the stability of food security. Consequently, we recommended an expansion of LDDP intervention, encompassing less resourceful farmers with adequate logistical support. This study illustrates how employing propensity score matching method (PSM) and implementing the LDDP intervention can effectively improve food security in livestock farming households in Bangladesh.

Women, income use and nutrition quality: effects of women’s decision-making in rural households in Cameroon

BackgroundWomen remain central to household food and nutrition security. However, they continue to face several constraints with respect to access, control and use of credit and income. There is theoretical assertion that increasing women's decision-making authority over family income increases spending and leads to gains in nutrition. However, empirical evidence on the links between rural women's income control and household food and nutrition security is inadequate, especially for a developing country, such as Cameroon.MethodologyWe employ the food consumption score nutrition quality analysis, the income domain of the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index and the Partial Least Square Structural Equations Modelling to examine data collected from 600 rural households in the West region of Cameroon to establish the effects of women’s control over income use on household nutrition quality. To ensure the reliability of our findings, additional tests such as the Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test with Lilliefors correction, and the Finite Mixture PLS approach are employed.ResultsFrom the analyses, we observed that a significant percentage of households have poor nutritional quality, particularly in terms of iron-rich food consumption. Women's control over income use remains low and varies based on the source of income. The analyses show that women's decision-making concerning income use and women's perception of their decision-making ability regarding income use and expenditure are positively associated with higher nutritional quality for the household. In addition, we establish that women's perceptions of their ability to make decisions about income use have a positive direct and total effect on nutrition quality, but a negative indirect effect on the latter, with the direct positive effect outweighing the indirect effect.ConclusionsInadequate consumption of iron-rich foods is pervasive for most households and there is limited control over income used for the majority of women in the study area. Enhancing women’s control over income use has significant implications for household nutrition quality. Hence, women should be empowered to fully exploit their potential at the household level to enhance food security at the community, regional and national levels.

Decomposition Analysis of Socioeconomic Inequalities in Vaccination Dropout in Remote and Underserved Settings in Ethiopia.

Despite increments in immunization coverage over the past decades, substantial inequality due to wealth status has persisted in Ethiopia. This study aimed to decompose the concentration index into the contributions of individual factors to socioeconomic inequalities of childhood vaccination dropout in remote and underserved settings in Ethiopia by using a decomposition approach. A wealth index was developed by reducing 41 variables related to women's household living standards into nine factors by using principal component analysis. The components were further totaled into a composite score and divided into five quintiles (poorest, poorer, middle, richer, and richest). Vaccination dropout was calculated as the proportion of children who did not get the pentavalent-3 vaccine among those who received the pentavalent-1 vaccine. The concentration index was used to estimate socioeconomic inequalities in childhood vaccination dropout, which was then decomposed to examine the factors contributing to socioeconomic inequalities in vaccination dropout. The overall concentration index was -0.179 (P <0.01), confirming the concentration of vaccination dropout among the lowest wealth strata. The decomposition analyses showed that wealth index significantly contributed to inequalities in vaccination dropout (49.7%). Place of residence also explained -16.2% of the inequality. Skilled birth attendance and availability of a health facility in the kebele (the lowest administrative government structure) also significantly contributed (33.6% and 12.6%, respectively) to inequalities in vaccination dropout. Wealth index, place of residence, skilled birth attendance, and availability of a health facility in the kebele largely contributed to the concentration of vaccination dropout among the lowest wealth strata. Policymakers should address vaccination inequality by designing more effective strategies.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Financial Literacy and Management among Household Women in Lahore

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Financial Literacy and Management among Household Women in Lahore

Exploring the link between household structure and women's household decision-making autonomy in Mauritania.

Governments in sub-Saharan African countries aim to increase married women's household decision-making autonomy as it remains a critical determinant of desirable health behaviours such as healthcare utilisation, antenatal care visits, and safer sex negotiation. However, very few studies explore how household structure (i.e., monogamous or polygamous) is associated with married women's household decision-making autonomy. Our paper seeks to address this gap. Using the 2019-20 Mauritania Demographic and Health Survey, a nationally representative dataset, and applying logistic regression analysis, we explore how married women's household structure is associated with their household decision-making autonomy. We find that 9% of married women are in polygamous marriages, while 63% and 65% are involved in decision-making about their health and large household purchases, respectively. Additionally, 76% and 56% are involved in decision-making about visiting family or relatives and household expenditures. After accounting for socio-economic and demographic factors, we find that compared to women from monogamous households, those from polygamous households are less likely to participate in decision-making about their health (OR=0.65, p < 0.001), making large household purchases (OR=0.65, p < 0.001), visiting family or relatives (OR=0.72, p < 0.001), and household expenditure (OR=0.58, p < 0.001). Based on our findings, we recommend the urgent need to review and re-evaluate policies and approaches seeking to promote gender equality and women's autonomy in Mauritania. Specifically, it may be critical for intervention programmes to work around reducing power imbalances in polygamous household structures that continue to impact married women's household decision-making autonomy adversely. Such interventions should centre married women's socio-economic status as a central component of their empowerment strategies in Mauritania.

Energy access and female labor force participation in developing countries

Access to reliable modern energy services and female economic empowerment are vital for sustainable development of developing countries. While micro-level evidence suggests that energy access can alleviate women's household burdens and enhance their labor market participation, there is little macro-level evidence on this relationship and limited insights on how institutional environments influence it. This study fills this gap using a national-level dataset covering 78 developing countries from 2000 to 2020 and analyzing how access to electricity and clean cooking fuels affects women's labor supply and demand, respectively. Results show that clean energy access increases female labor force participation, particularly in rural areas and small island developing countries. Electricity access reduces female unemployment, especially in urban areas and African countries. Moreover, the importance of country risk and governance capability in shaping this relationship is highlighted. These findings provide valuable insights for enacting synergy policies targeting sustainable development goals.

Saving and Credit Cooperatives Services and Socio-economic Empowerment of Women in Temeke Municipality, Tanzania

The majority of the SACCOS clientele consists of low-income women who form solidarity groups to obtain credit. However, poverty has persisted among women and their communities for a very long time. This study assessed the financial services that SACCOS offer to women and the impacts that SACCOS have on women's empowerment and household livelihoods in Temeke Municipality, Tanzania. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) were used in a qualitative research design to gather primary data from female members of the selected SACCOS (Mbagala Lutheran and KIUMA) on the research issue. The survey found that women use SACCOS for a wide range of services, such as savings accounts, low-cost loans, options for investing and financial advisory services. Additionally, the study revealed that SACCOS have both non-financial and financial impacts on women's empowerment and household livelihoods, including greater financial security through saving and insurance products, strengthening of financial literacy and decision-making skills among women, empowerment through participation in SACCOS leadership and decision-making, business development through access to capital and credits from SACCOS, and enhanced household ability to meet basic and material needs. This study concludes that it is through its services that SACCOS is an instrumental entity in addressing the financial inclusion gap, especially for women in Tanzania. Moreover, it is recommended based on this study that, apart from mere financial services, SACCOS and other microfinance institutions should invest in education and financial advisory services to assist women in making wise financial decisions, such as budgeting and making productive investments of capital. This is because women save more in SACCOS; however, a large number of them have continuously been trapped in a vicious cycle of financial debt, poverty, and dependency syndrome

An Exploratory Study on Water Scarcity and Coping Mechanisms Among Women Households with Special Reference to Chidothe Village in Zomba, Malawi

Accessing clean and pure water is a crisis for women and families all over the world. Without the proper resources to receive water can lead to the fatality of women and their families. This paper explores water scarcity and household coping mechanisms to water scarcity with special reference to women households in Chidothe village. It identifies the sources of water in Chidothe village, understands the challenges faced by women in fetching water and explores household coping mechanisms to water scarcity with the purpose of raising awareness to the community’s situation. Although the water supply system was expanded in 2001, many areas including Chidothe village are still experiencing water problems. In the past years’ researchers and policy makers have focused on improving the performance of water utility infrastructure in order to eliminate this threat. However, little efforts have been made to understand social issues to water shortage and how people respond to them. Data gathering methods were individual interviews and focus group discussions. All interviews were audio recorded. The data was processed manually and analyzed thematically. The results were analyzed through insights and arguments from Feminist Political Ecology (FPE). The study reveals that women and girls in Chidothe Village have a greater responsibility to fetch water, are facing challenges to access portable water such as lack of money to connect to tap water, the absence of water kiosks in the village further worsens the problem and circumstances force them to draw water from unsafe sources, hence, exposing themselves to diseases. The results imply that there is an urgent need to address water supply systems in order to prevent people from water borne diseases. The study concludes that there is need to incorporate women in decision making to articulate their concerns and interests at local level and also water aid stakeholders should use gender sensitive approaches when planning, designing and implementing water projects.

MHealth interventions for postpartum family planning in LMICs: A realist review.

The unmet need for family planning is a pervasive public health concern in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have been designed and implemented in LMIC settings to address this issue through health information dissemination via voice calls, apps, and short message services (SMS). Although the impact of mHealth programmes on postpartum family planning outcomes have been systematically reviewed, the contexts, conditions, and mechanisms underpinning programme engagement and their impact on outcomes remain unclear. This study aims to formulate hypotheses in the form of context-mechanism-outcome configurations (CMOCs) of whether, how, why, for whom, and in what contexts mHealth interventions implemented in LMICs influence postpartum family planning (PPFP) outcomes. We conducted a realist review of peer-reviewed and grey literature. Peer-reviewed literature was identified through MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Grey Literature was identified through The National Grey Literature Conference, FHI 360, Guttmacher Institute, Population Council, and MSI Reproductive Choices. Inclusion criteria were updated as the review progressed. Narrative data were analysed using dimensional analysis to build CMOCs. Two overarching concepts (underpinned by 12 CMOCs) emerged from the 37 included records: mobile phone access, use, and ownership as well as women's motivation. Women's confidence to independently own, access, and operate a mobile phone was a central mechanism leading to mHealth programme engagement and subsequent change in PPFP knowledge, awareness, and outcomes. Receiving family and social support positively interacted with this while low digital literacy and harmful gender norms pertaining to prescribed domestic duties and women's household influence were barriers to programme engagement. Intrinsic motivation for health improvement functioned at times both as a context and potential mechanism influencing mHealth programme engagement and PPFP outcomes. However, these contexts rarely occur in isolation and need to be evaluated as co-occurring phenomena. (Review registration: PROSPERO CRD42023386841).

Determination of aging anxiety in middle-aged women.

The aim of this study was to determine the state of aging anxiety in middle-aged women. The study was collected from women between the ages of 40 and 59 years by an online survey method. While collecting the data of the participants, the women's personal characteristics diagnostic form and the Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Women were used. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 26 statistical software. The aging anxiety of the women was found to be moderate (53.05±16.26). A significant correlation was found between women's menopausal status, household income, education level, and total score of aging anxiety (p<0.05). In addition to working outside the home, women are also burdened with duties inside the home. To improve their quality of life, women need to share many of the tasks imposed on them with other family members. To reduce the anxiety experienced by women during the climacteric period, it is recommended to provide psychosocial support to women and consider this issue in health policies. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses, have important duties to reduce anxiety and stress, which constitute the basis of many chronic diseases. It is recommended that nurses, who are health ambassadors, direct women with anxiety to psychological support services through screenings they will conduct for women during this period.

Household welfare outcomes of access to and use of agricultural radio broadcast by women cocoa farmers in Tepa district, Ghana

Ghanaian women play a significant part in the country's agricultural marketing, processing and production, yet the gender information gap is severe. This survey aimed to evaluate women's access to and use of agriculture radio broadcasts in the Ashanti Region's Tepa district, Ghana. A descriptive research design and quantitative research method were employed, with a sample size of 300 determined using Cochran's formula. The results indicate that women cocoa farmers have high access to and use cocoa-related information through radio broadcasts. Socio-economic factors such as age, ownership of radio sets, cooperative membership, farm size, and land tenure system significantly affect women's level of access and use of cocoa-related information from radio broadcasts. Women cocoa farmers who utilize the information received from radio broadcasts have improved their household welfare; income, productivity, and livelihood assets. Poor radio signals, lack of finance, and inconvenient broadcast times for women farmers were found to be the most severe constraints. To improve women's household welfare, government agencies should pay more attention to women's information needs.

PELATIHAN KERAJINAN TEKNIK DECOUPAGE SEBAGAI CARA UNTUK MENUMBUHKAN INDUSTRI KREATIF DI DESA SETIALAKSANA

This service program aims to empower housewives in making handicrafts with the decoupage technique and develop skills so they can sell them and can be used as initial capital to start a business to improve the family's economy. This training activity was carried out in Setialaksana Village, Cabangbungin District, Bekasi Regency by applying the service method in the form of craft-related training through the decoupage technique. The results of the activity showed that the knowledge and skills of the participants in handicrafts using the decoupage technique increased, so that they have a selling value that can increase the income of the women's group households in Cabangbungin District.

Multilevel analysis of place of delivery among reproductive age women in Ethiopia

AbstractIntroductionThe place where the mother gives birth majorly affects the birth outcome and the mother's well‐being; this is because most maternal mortality, morbidity, and neonatal death occur during the time of labor and delivery and immediately after birth. This study was aimed to identify factors associated with the place of delivery among reproductive age women.MethodSecondary analysis was done using the 2019 Mini Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data. A multi‐stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 5527 weighted representative samples of women to include in the analysis. To identify factors associated with the place of delivery, a multilevel mixed effect binary logistic regression model was fitted to consider the hierarchical nature of the data. Statistical significance was declared at p‐value &lt; 0.05.ResultThis study found that women aged 35 to 49 years, mothers with primary and secondary and above, educational status, and women from households with higher wealth index, and participants who had at least one antenatal care visit had higher odds of giving birth in a health facility. Women with two and three and more birth order, who live in rural areas, and women living in communities with higher poverty levels have lower odds of institutional delivery.ConclusionIncreased maternal age, increased maternal educational status, having at least one antenatal care visit, women's household wealth index, increased birth order, rural residence, and higher community poverty level were found to be factors that significantly associated with the place of delivery. Hence, Ethiopia's Federal Minister of Health and another stakeholders should amplify their efforts to increase the accessibility and availability of healthcare facilities and quality maternal health service delivery.

Is women's household decision-making autonomy associated with their higher dietary diversity in Bangladesh? Evidence from nationally representative survey.

In Bangladesh, a low-quality repetitive diet characterized by starchy staple foods is typical, leading to disorders associated with micronutrient deficiencies, particularly among mothers and their children. The purpose of the study was to validate the link between women's decision-making autonomy and higher dietary diversity score. Participants were ever married women aged 15-49 years old with comprehensive dietary information (n = 17,842), selected from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2014. The dietary diversity score (DDS) was obtained from a 24-h recall of dietary intake from nine food groups, categorized into lower DDS (DDS ≤ 4) and higher DDS (DDS ≥ 5). Descriptive analysis, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were conducted using STATA version 15. Almost all women consumed starchy foods, flesh (83.86%), and fruits (67.30%). Using logistic regression, the odds of achieving dietary diversity score were higher among women who participated in household purchases (OR 2.40; 95% CI: 1.52-3.83; p = 0.022). Women who had higher and secondary education were 2.72 (95% CI: 1.49-3.02; p = 0.025) and 1.31 (95% CI: 0.58-2.18; p = 0.029) times more likely to achieve higher DDS than women having no education, as well as women in the richest quintile (OR 6.49; 95% CI: 4.12-8.5; p = 0.037) compared to women in the lowest quintile. This study highlighted the association of several socioeconomic conditions of ever married women and their dietary diversity score in Bangladesh. Therefore, promoting the women's education status, improving the socioeconomic conditions, and prioritizing their decisions are recommended for the attainment of higher dietary diversity score.

Megged, Amos (2019) Rituals and Sisterhoods: Single Women's Households in Mexico, 1560–1750, University Press of Colorado (Louisville, Colorado), xiv + 301 pp. £81.00 hbk, £27.00 pbk

Megged, Amos (2019) Rituals and Sisterhoods: Single Women's Households in Mexico, 1560–1750, University Press of Colorado (Louisville, Colorado), xiv + 301 pp. £81.00 hbk, £27.00 pbk

Women's utilisation of quality antenatal care, intrapartum care and postnatal care services in Ethiopia: a population-based study using the demographic and health survey data

ObjectiveThis study sought to investigate the level and determinants of receiving quality antenatal care (ANC), intrapartum care, and postnatal care (PNC) services by women in Ethiopia. The quality of care a woman receives during ANC, intrapartum care, and PNC services affects the health of the woman and her child and her likelihood of seeking care in the future.MethodsData from the nationally representative Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019 were analysed for 5,527 mothers who gave birth within five years preceding the survey. We defined quality ANC as having: blood pressure measurement, urine and blood tests, informed of danger signs, iron supplementation, and nutritional counselling during ANC services; quality intrapartum care as having: a health facility birth, skilled birth assistance, and a newborn put to the breast within one hour of birth during intrapartum care services; and quality PNC as having: PNC within two days; cord examination; temperature measurement, and counselling on danger signs and breastfeeding of the newborn; and healthcare provider's observation of breastfeeding during PNC services. We used multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analyses specifying three-level models: a woman/household, a cluster, and an administrative region to determine predictors of each care quality. The analyses employed sampling weights and were adjusted for sampling design.ResultsThirty-six percent (n = 1,048), 43% (n = 1,485), and 21% (n = 374) women received quality ANC, intrapartum care and PNC services, respectively. Private healthcare facilities provided higher-quality ANC and PNC but poor-quality intrapartum care, compared to public health facilities. Having four or more ANC visits, commencing ANC during the first trimester, and higher women's education levels and household wealth indices were positive predictors of quality ANC use. Government health posts were less likely to provide quality ANC. Wealthier, urban-residing women with education and four or more ANC contacts were more likely to receive quality intrapartum care. Women who received quality ANC and skilled birth assistance were more likely to receive quality PNC. Teenage mothers were more likely to receive quality intrapartum care, but were less likely to receive quality PNC than mothers aged 20–49.ConclusionsWe recommend standardizing the contents of ANC provided in all healthcare facilities; and promoting early and four or more ANC contacts, effectiveness, sensitivity and vigilance of care provided to teenage mothers, and women's education and economic empowerment.