ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9062-4508
Current Organisation
University of Western Australia
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Applied Economics | Economic Development And Growth | Labour Economics | Panel Data Analysis | Anthropology of Development | Human Geography Not Elsewhere Classified | Studies of Asian Society | Human Geography not elsewhere classified | Anthropology | Human Geography | Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified | Health Economics | Family And Household Studies |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Understanding other countries | Equity and Access to Education | Changing work patterns | Nutrition | Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society | Social Structure and Health | Health related to ageing | International Aid and Development | Studies in human society | Political science and public policy | Carers development and welfare (i.e. Carers for the aged, disabled) | Health Protection and/or Disaster Response
Related Links
Publications
Female autonomy in household decision-making and intimate partner violence: evidence from Pakistan
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-11-2020
The link between infant mortality and child nutrition in India: is there any evidence of a gender bias?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-01-2011
On the role of governance and health aid on child mortality
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 14-07-2017
Food security as a lagging component of India's human development: A function of interacting entitlement failures
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2013
Infant mortality and child nutrition in Bangladesh
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2008
DOI: 10.1002/HEC.1379
Abstract: The excess female infant mortality observed in South Asia has typically been attributed to gender discrimination in the intra-household allocation of food and medical care. However, studies on child nutrition find no evidence of gender differences. A natural explanation could be that in environments of high infant mortality of females, the surviving children are healthier, so that child nutrition cannot be studied independently of mortality. In this paper, we use data from the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey to investigate if there are any gender differences in survival probabilities and whether this leads to differences in child nutrition. We argue the importance of establishing whether or not there exists a dependence relationship between the two random variables--infant mortality and child nutrition--and in order to detect this we employ a copula approach to model specification. The results suggest, for ex le, that while male children have a significantly lower likelihood of surviving their first year relative to female children, should they survive they have significantly better height-for-age Z-scores. From a policy perspective, household wealth and public health interventions such as vaccinations are found to be important predictors of better nutritional outcomes.
Child schooling in India: The role of gender
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 13-04-2015
DOI: 10.1108/IGDR-03-2014-0008
Abstract: – This paper aims to analyse factors that influence child schooling outcomes in India, specifically the role of gender. – This paper uses data from the nationally representative Indian National Family Health Surveys 1995-1996 and 2005-2006 and estimates Heckman s le selection, cluster fixed-effects and household fixed-effects econometric models. The dependent variables are the child’s enrolment status and conditional on enrolment child’s years of schooling. – This analysis finds statistically significant evidence of male advantage both in schooling enrolment as well as years of schooling. However, using a cluster fixed-effects model, our analysis finds that within a village, conditional on being enrolled, girls spend more years in school relative to boys. Other results show that parental schooling has a positive and statistically significant impact on child schooling. There is statistically significant wealth effect, community effect and regional disparities between states in India. – The large s le size and the range of questions available in this data set, allows us to explore the influence of in idual, household and village level social, economic and cultural factors on child schooling. The role of gender on child schooling within a village, intrahousehold resource allocation for schooling and regional gender differences in schooling are important issues in India, where education outcomes remain poor for large segments of the population.
Gender Inequality in Education and Kinship Norms in India
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-09-2017
The Role of Land Ownership and Non-Farm Livelihoods on Household Food and Nutrition Security in Rural India
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-12-2021
DOI: 10.3390/SU132413615
Abstract: South Asia remains the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment with India accounting for 255 million food insecure people. A worsening of child nutritional outcomes has been observed in many Indian states recently and children in rural areas have poorer nutrition compared to those in urban areas. This paper investigates the relationship between land ownership, non-farm livelihoods, food security, and child nutrition in rural India, using the Young Lives Survey. The survey covers the same rural households and children over the period 2002–2013 in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Our empirical analysis uses a s le of 1209 children (and their households) who were aged around 1 year in 2002. Our results show that large agricultural land ownership is significantly associated with better child nutrition (measured using height-for-age and stunting) and household food security. A transition from farm to non-farm work improves child nutrition, but only among landless households. While access to land is still critical for improving household food and nutrition security among rural households, there is a trend towards greater non-farm livelihoods, and a decline in reliance on farming, particularly among landless and marginal farmers.
The importance of non-farm livelihoods for household food security and dietary diversity in rural Myanmar
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2019
High Spending on Maternity Care in India: What Are the Factors Explaining It?
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 24-06-2016
A life-cycle approach to food and nutrition security in India
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 27-05-2015
DOI: 10.1017/S1368980014001037
Abstract: India’s poor performance on critical food and nutrition security indicators despite substantial economic prosperity has been widely documented. These failings not only h er national progress, but also contribute significantly to the global undernourished population, particularly children. While the recently passed National Food Security Act 2013 adopts a life-cycle approach to expand coverage of subsidized food grains to the most vulnerable households and address food security, there remains much to be desired in the legislation. Access to adequate food for 1·24 billion people is a multifaceted problem requiring an interconnected set of policy measures to tackle the various factors affecting food and nutrition security in India. In the present opinion paper, we discuss a fivefold strategy that incorporates a life-cycle approach, spanning reproductive health, bolstering citizen participation in existing national programmes, empowering women, advancing agriculture and better monitoring the Public Distribution System in order to fill the gaps in both access and adequacy of food and nutrition.
Age-appropriate vaccination against measles and DPT-3 in India – closing the gaps
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-04-2013
Is There an Informal Employment Penalty in Food Security? Evidence from Rural Vietnam
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-01-2022
Food consumption patterns and malnourished Indian children: Is there a link?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2013
The role of landholding as a determinant of food and nutrition insecurity in rural Myanmar
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2014
Changes in Child Nutrition in India: A Decomposition Approach
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 22-05-2019
Abstract: Background: Improvements in child health are a key indicator of progress towards the third goal of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Poor nutritional outcomes of Indian children are occurring in the context of high economic growth rates. The aim of this paper is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the demographic and socio-economic factors contributing to changes in the nutritional status of children aged 0–5 years in India using data from the 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 Indian Human Development Survey. Methods: To identify how much the different socio-economic conditions of households contribute to the changes observed in stunting, underweight and the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF), we employ both linear and non-linear decompositions, as well as the unconditional quantile technique. Results: We find the incidence of stunting and underweight dropping by 7 and 6 percentage points, respectively. Much of this remarkable improvement is encountered in the Central and Western regions. A household’s economic situation, as well as maternal body mass index and education, account for much of the change in child nutrition. The same holds for CIAF in the non-linear decomposition. Although higher maternal autonomy is associated with a decrease in stunting and underweight, the contribution of maternal autonomy to improvements is relatively small. Conclusions: Household wealth consistently makes the largest contribution to improvements in undernutrition. Nevertheless, maternal autonomy and education also play a relatively important role.
Social capital and healthy ageing in Indonesia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-07-2016
Reproductive Burden and Its Impact on Female Labor Market Outcomes in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Analyses
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-07-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11113-022-09730-6
Abstract: We use nationally representative data from two waves of the Indian Human Development Survey to examine the role of inter-temporal changes in fertility behavior in influencing female labor market outcomes. Our multivariate regression estimates show that an increase in the number of children reduces labor force participation and earnings. We further investigated the impact of fertility changes on transitions from the labor market. The results show that women who had more than three children in both rounds of the survey had a 3.5% points higher probability of exiting from the labor market than their counterparts with two or fewer children net of other socio-demographic factors. Disaggregated analyses by caste, economic, educational status, and region show that the probability of dropping out of the labor market due to fertility changes varies by region and is greater for non-poor and primary to secondary schooling women and those from socially disadvantaged castes than poor, non-educated, and socially advantageous women.
The links between agricultural production and the nutritional status of children in rural Myanmar
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-11-2018
Modelling the influence of caring for the elderly on migration
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 20-11-2012
India's education challenges: Expenditure Effectiveness Issues
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 2017
The Asian ‘Poverty Miracle’ Impressive Accomplishments or Incomplete Achievements? edited by Jacques Silber and Guanghua Wan (eds) Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2016 Pp. 329 + ix. ISBN 978 1 78536 914 8
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1111/APEL.12205
Studying home gardens as if people mattered: Why don't food-insecure households in rural Myanmar cultivate home gardens?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-02-2018
In utero Ramadan exposure and child nutrition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 07-07-2022
DOI: 10.1017/S204017442200037X
Abstract: In this study, we empirically analyse whether in utero exposure to the Ramadan fasting period is negatively associated with child nutrition. The data for the analyses come from a retrospective assessment of 759,799 children from 103 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) across 56 countries during 2003–2020. Considering the month-long Ramadan exposure as a natural experiment, we implement an intent-to-treat framework, comparing stunting and underweight among children aged 0–5 years who were exposed to Ramadan fasting at any time in utero with those who were not exposed. Our findings do not show significant evidence to conclude that in utero exposure to the Ramadan fasting period is negatively associated with child nutrition. On the contrary, except for stunting in Muslim children who had in utero exposure to Ramadan fasting during the first months of pregnancy, we find no significant association between in utero exposure to Ramadan fasting and child stunting and underweight. Our main results are robust to multiple robustness checks.
Reducing Under-Five Mortality in India – A Review of Major Encumbrances and Suggestions for Progress
Publisher: OMICS Publishing Group
Date: 2012
The trade-off between child labour and schooling in India
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-01-2012
The local economy and re-election of incumbent district leaders in Indonesia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2020
Reducing Neonatal Mortality in India: Critical Role of Access to Emergency Obstetric Care
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 27-03-2013
Gender differences in intrahousehold schooling outcomes: the role of sibling characteristics and birth‐order effects
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2008
Study protocol for the safety and efficacy of probiotic therapy on days alive and out of hospital in adult ICU patients
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 06-2020
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2019-035930
Abstract: The effect of early and sustained administration of daily probiotic therapy on patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) remains uncertain. The Restoration Of gut microflora in Critical Illness Trial (ROCIT) study is a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, two-sided superiority trial that will enrol 220 patients in five ICUs. Adult patients who are within 48 hours of admission to an ICU and are expected to require intensive care beyond the next calendar day will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to receive early and sustained Lactobacillus plantarum 299v probiotic therapy in addition to usual care or placebo in addition to usual care. The primary endpoint is days alive and out of hospital to day 60. ROCIT has been approved by the South Metropolitan Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee (ref: RGS00000004) and the St John of God Health Care Human Research Ethics Committee (ref: 1183). The trial results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR12617000783325) Pre-results.
The interaction of household agricultural landholding and Caste on food security in rural Uttar Pradesh, India
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-10-2020
The Determinants of Married Women's Autonomy in Indonesia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2009
Alcohol consumption among adults in Vietnam: prevalence, patterns, and its determinants
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 20-01-2022
Paternal education status significantly influences infants’ measles vaccination uptake, independent of maternal education status
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-05-2012
Abstract: Despite increased funding of measles vaccination programs by national governments and international aid agencies, structural factors encumber attainment of childhood measles immunisation to levels which may guarantee herd immunity. One of such factors is parental education status. Research on the links between parental education and vaccination has typically focused on the influence of maternal education status. This study aims to demonstrate the independent influence of paternal education status on measles immunisation. Comparable nationally representative survey data were obtained from six countries with the highest numbers of children missing the measles vaccine in 2008. Logistic regression analysis was applied to examine the influence of paternal education on uptake of the first dose of measles vaccination, independent of maternal education, whilst controlling for confounding factors such as respondent’s age, urban/rural residence, province/state of residence, religion, wealth and occupation. The results of the analysis show that even if a mother is illiterate, having a father with an education of Secondary (high school) schooling and above is statistically significant and positively correlated with the likelihood of a child being vaccinated for measles, in the six countries analysed. Paternal education of secondary or higher level was significantly and independently correlated with measles immunisation uptake after controlling for all potential confounders. The influence of paternal education status on measles immunisation uptake was investigated and found to be statistically significant in six nations with the biggest gaps in measles immunisation coverage in 2008. This study underscores the imperative of utilising both maternal and paternal education as screening variables to identify children at risk of missing measles vaccination prospectively.
District-level variations in childhood immunizations in India: The role of socio-economic factors and health infrastructure
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2015.05.004
Abstract: Routine childhood immunizations against measles and DPT are part of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) set up in 1974, with the aim of reducing childhood morbidity and mortality. Despite this, immunization rates are sub-optimal in developing countries such as India, with wide heterogeneity observed across districts and socio-economic characteristics. The aim of this paper is to examine district-level variations in the propensity to vaccinate a child in India for measles and DPT3, and analyse the extent to which these immunizations are given age-inappropriately, either prematurely or delayed. The present study uses data from the Indian District Level Household Survey (DLHS-3) collected in 2008, and the final s le contains detailed information on 42157 children aged between 12 and 60 months, across 549 Indian districts for whom we have complete information on immunization history. Our empirical study analyses: (i) the district-level average immunization rates for measles and DPT3, and (ii) the extent to which these immunizations have been given age-appropriately. A key contribution of this paper is that we link the household-level data at the district level to data on availability and proximity to health infrastructure and district-level socio-economic factors. Our results show that after controlling for an array of socio-economic characteristics, across all our models, the district's income per capita is a strong predictor of better immunization outcomes for children. Mother's education level at the district-level has a statistically significant and positive influence on immunization outcomes across all our models.
Early and sustained Lactobacillus plantarum probiotic therapy in critical illness
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-02-2021
Ageing faster with AIDS in Africa
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2011
Correlates of first dose of measles vaccination delivery and uptake in Indonesia
Publisher: Medknow
Date: 02-2011
Rural poverty and labour force participation: Evidence from Indonesia’s Village fund program
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 21-06-2023
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0283041
Abstract: Rural residents account for the bulk of poverty in developing countries. This paper evaluates the impact of Indonesia’s Dana Desa program (Village Fund Program or VFP) on rural poverty and female labour force participation. The VFP, introduced in 2014, was an ambitious national-level village governance program which transferred administrative responsibility and financial resources to Indonesia’s 79,000 plus rural villages, providing them with the autonomy to invest in rural infrastructure, human capital, and job creation programs. Using nationally representative data from before and after the program, we show that the implementation of the VFP was associated with an improvement in rural household’s consumption expenditure among households, particularly among agricultural households. Female labour force participation in rural areas increased by about 10 percentage points and there is also evidence of a sectoral shift away from agricultural employment towards jobs in the service sector. This improvement in labour force participation is associated with poverty reduction among rural households.
THE IMPACT OF CHILDCARE COSTS ON THE FULL-TIME/PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS OF AUSTRALIAN MOTHERS
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2007
Determinants of Schooling in Egypt: The Role of Gender and Rural/Urban Residence
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2007
The Effect of Early Marriages and Early Childbearing on Women’s Nutritional Status in India
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-02-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S10995-015-1700-7
Abstract: The consequences of early childbearing on the growth and nutritional status of women in India has not been quantified in previous studies. Our study aimed to fill this gap by analysing the association between early marriage and early childbearing on nutritional status of Indian women, with a focus on Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the two states accounting for the highest proportion of women marrying and giving first birth before 18 years of age. Our findings revealed that a substantial number of women were married before 18 years and thereby exposed to early pregnancy. Furthermore, a significantly higher proportion of women in the 'thin' category were married before 18 years, both in the Indian s le (33 %, p < 0.001) and in the selected states, Andhra Pradesh (31 %, p < 0.001) and Bihar (43 %, p < 0.001), compared to those women married at higher ages. Similarly, across all our s les women whose first birth was before age 18 years also had a significantly higher probability of being in the 'thin' category across all our s les. This pattern was also observed for associations between early childbirth and anemia levels. We conclude that the net effect of the early age at marriage and age at first birth on nutritional status is significant. Our results underline the need for preventing early marriages and the consequent high adolescent pregnancies in India, particularly in high prevalence states. This will help to improve nutritional status and health care utilisation among women, thereby, prevent maternal and child mortality and thus, achieve the MDGs 4-5.
Testing the regional Convergence Hypothesis for the progress in health status in India during 1980–2015
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 10-06-2020
DOI: 10.1017/S0021932020000255
Abstract: The key challenges of global health policy are not limited to improving average health status, with a need for greater focus on reducing regional inequalities in health outcomes. This study aimed to assess health inequalities across the major Indian states used data from the S le Registration System (SRS, 1981–2015), National Family Health Survey (NFHS, 1992–2015) and other Indian government official statistics. Catching-up plots, absolute and conditional β -convergence models, sigma ( σ ) plots and Kernel Density plots were used to test the Convergence Hypothesis, Dispersion Measure of Mortality (DMM) and the Gini index to measure progress in absolute and relative health inequalities across the major Indian states. The findings from the absolute β -convergence measure showed convergence in life expectancy at birth among the states. The results from the β - and σ -convergences showed convergence replacing ergence post-2000 for child and maternal mortality indicators. Furthermore, the estimates suggested a continued ergence for child underweight, but slow improvements in child full immunization. The trends in inter-state inequality suggest a decline in absolute inequality, but a significant increase or stationary trend in relative health inequality during 1981–2015. The application of different convergence metrics worked as robustness checks in the assessment of the convergence process in the selected health indicators for India over the study period.
Rural women’s empowerment and children’s food and nutrition security in Bangladesh
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
Addressing Female Iron-Deficiency Anaemia in India: Is Vegetarianism the Major Obstacle?
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 31-10-2012
DOI: 10.5402/2012/765476
Abstract: Objectives . We examined the influence of vegetarian diet on the risk of developing anaemia among Indian women and suggest initiatives for addressing diet-related iron-deficiency anaemia. Methods . We analysed data on diet, social class, and haemoglobin levels from the nationally representative Indian National Family and Health Survey 2005/06 for a s le of 81,301 women aged 15–49 years using logistic regression models. Results . After controlling for in idual-level factors and household level socioeconomic characteristics, daily consumption of meat, fish, and eggs was associated with lower odds of being moderately or severely anaemic. Our analysis also revealed that economic characteristics such as being from higher wealth quintiles, being in paid employment, and rural residence reduced the odds of having iron-deficiency anaemia among Indian women. Discussion . As a large proportion of Indians subsist on iron-poor vegetarian diets for religious, economic, and cultural reasons, large-scale iron supplementation and fortification of commonly consumed vegetarian foodstuffs constitute a feasible, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective strategy for addressing this major public health problem. Consumption of cheap iron-rich foodstuffs should be promoted. Effective poverty alleviation and hookworm prevention programs are also important. Large-scale cohort and intervention studies are urgently required to further define the influence of vegetarianism on iron deficiency anaemia in India.
Maternal dietary diversity and odds of low birth weight: Empirical findings from India
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-08-2018
DOI: 10.1080/03630242.2018.1487903
Abstract: India has the highest proportion of low birth weight (LBW) babies born in the developing world. Poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy is associated with adverse infant health outcomes. The main objective of this paper was to assess the socioeconomic factors associated with dietary ersity among pregnant women and to investigate the association between maternal dietary ersity and LBW among their babies. The data for these analyses were derived from a survey conducted in November and December, 2014 among 230 women who had newly delivered in hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, the largest Indian state that has the poorest maternal outcomes in the country. The results from multivariate binary logistic regression model indicated that low maternal education and economic status was significantly associated with poor dietary ersity among participants. Also, women with low maternal dietary ersity had a significantly higher proportion of LBW babies compared to those in the medium to high dietary ersity categories. From a policy perspective, these findings suggest that continuous tracking of pregnant women's nutritional needs through existing monitoring systems, e.g., the Nutrition Resource Platform and Health Management Information System, and necessary interventions through Integrated Child Development Services may yield better results, thereby, addressing maternal under-nutrition and LBW.
Explaining the diminishing of Muslim advantage in child survival in India
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-09-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S41118-022-00177-3
Abstract: Religion is one of the key instrumental social institutions in determining child health and mortality. Muslim advantage in child survival in India has been widely reported. Recent India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) shows that the gap between Hindu–Muslim childhood mortality rates is shrinking—reversing decades of child survival advantage for Muslims. This study examines the factors linked to the diminishing of Muslim advantage in childhood survival and attempts to uncover the mechanisms accounting for the convergence using the characteristics hypothesis of Goldscheider (Population, modernization, and social structure Little, Brown & Co 1971) and the analytical framework of Guillot and Allendorf (Genus 66(2), 2010). We have analyzed a pooled s le of 23,47,245 all live births and 428,541 of last live births from four rounds of NFHS (1992–2016). Kaplan–Meier survival plots over time by religion confirm convergence in Hindu–Muslim child survival probabilities. The Pyatt decomposition model reveals that the gap in Hindu–Muslim childhood mortality is diminishing due to a decline in within-Hindu inequality. Cox proportional hazard regression model shows that improvement in household and maternal socioeconomic factors has contributed to Hindu children catching up with Muslims—leading to a convergence in Hindu–Muslim childhood survival probabilities. Conditional β-convergence regression model also suggests the convergence in socio-economic status and maternal health care is driving the convergence in child survival of Hindus and Muslims across Indian states.
Maternal autonomy and child nutrition
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 17-04-2009
DOI: 10.1108/17538250910953444
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the main determinants of child nutrition in rural Nepal, focusing on the influential role of maternal autonomy. This paper uses data from the 2006 Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) to estimate econometric models using OLS and logit techniques. The dependent variables are the two anthropometric measures of child weight‐for‐height (a measure of wasting) and height‐for‐age (a measure of stunting). No evidence was found of gender discrimination against the girl child in either of our nutritional measures. However, our results show that the explanatory variables have differential effects on male and female children. Estimation results show that maternal autonomy variables have a limited influence on child nutrition measures, but household wealth has a large positive impact on child nutrition, both short‐term and long term. The large s le size and the range of questions available in our nationally representative dataset, allows us to explore the influence of household level social and economic factors on child nutrition. A study of the role of maternal decision‐making power and control over assets on the nutritional status of children is an important issue in a developing country like Nepal, where health and education outcomes remain poor for large segments of the population.
Maternal Education and Child Schooling Outcomes in Nepal
Publisher: Emerald (MCB UP )
Date: 2007
Home gardens as a predictor of enhanced dietary diversity and food security in rural Myanmar
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-08-2019
World health status 1950-2015: Converging or diverging
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 19-03-2019
DECOMPOSING THE SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN SELECTED COUNTRIES OF SOUTH ASIA AND SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 30-10-2017
DOI: 10.1017/S0021932017000530
Abstract: The gap in access to maternal health care services is a challenge of an unequal world. In 2015, each day about 830 women died due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented. This study quantified the contributions of the socioeconomic determinants of inequality to the utilization of maternal health care services in four countries in erse geographical and cultural settings: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal and Zimbabwe. Data from the 2010–11 Demographic and Health Surveys of the four countries were used, and methods developed by Wagstaff and colleagues for decomposing socioeconomic inequalities in health were applied. The results showed that although the Concentration Index (CI) was negative for the selected indicators, meaning maternal health care was poorer among lower socioeconomic status groups, the level of CI varied across the different countries for the same outcome indicator: CI of −0.1147, −0.1146, −0.2859 and −0.0638 for antenatal care visits CI of −0.1338, −0.0925, −0.1960 and −0.2531 for non-institutional delivery and CI of −0.1153, −0.0370, −0.1817 and −0.0577 for no postnatal care within 2 days of delivery for Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal and Zimbabwe, respectively. The marginal effects suggested that the strength of the association between the outcome and explanatory factors varied across the different countries. Decomposition estimates revealed that the key contributing factors for socioeconomic inequalities in maternal health care varied across the selected countries. The findings are significant for a global understanding of the various determinants of maternal health care use in high-maternal-mortality settings in different geographical and socio-cultural contexts.
Gender differentials in the timing of measles vaccination in rural India
Publisher: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Date: 11-06-2014
Addressing HIV prevention and disease burden among Africans aged over 50 years
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-06-2010
Abstract: Although sub-Saharan Africans aged 50 years or over constitute about 4.7% of the general population and 5.6% of the total adult population infected with HIV, they remain the forgotten cohort of the AIDS pandemic. Based on a literature review and data from the World Health Organization Demographic Health Surveys, the authors analyse the prevalence of HIV among African men aged 50–59 and provide a brief analysis of risk factors, as well as the influence of demographic, epidemiologic, pathophysiologic and sociocultural transitions on HIV prevention and disease burden among older Africans. Evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment interventions are urgently required in order to address the wellbeing of HIV-infected, older Africans.
Agricultural Production Diversity and Child Nutritional Outcomes in Rural Myanmar
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-10-2021
Land ownership, agriculture, and household nutrition: a case study of north Indian villages
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-12-2017
Does engagement with frontline health workers improve maternal and child healthcare utilisation and outcomes in India?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S12960-021-00592-1
Abstract: Poor Maternal and Child Health (MCH) outcomes pose challenges to India’s ability to attain Goal-3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The government of India strengthened the existing network of frontline health workers (FHWs), under its National Rural Health Mission in 2005 and subsequent National Urban Health Mission in 2013 as a strategy to mitigate the shortage of skilled health workers and to provide affordable healthcare services. However, there is a lack of robust national-level empirical analysis on the role of maternal engagement with FHWs in influencing the level of maternal and child health care utilisation and child health outcomes in India. Using data from the nationally representative Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015–2016, this paper aims to investigate the intensity of engagement of FHWs with married women of child-bearing age (15–49 years), its influence on utilisation of maternal and child healthcare services, and child health outcomes. Our empirical analyses use multivariate regression analyses, focusing on five maternal and child health indicators: antenatal care visits (ANC) (4 or 4 times), institutional delivery, full-immunisation of children, postnatal care (PNC) (within 2 days of delivery), and child survival. Our analysis finds that maternal engagement with FHWs is statistically significant and a positive predictor of maternal and child health care utilisation, and child survival. Further, the level of engagement with FHWs is particularly important for women from economically poor households. Our robustness checks across sub-s les of women who delivered only in public health institutions and those from rural areas provides an additional confidence in our main results. From a policy perspective, our findings highlight that strengthening the network of FHWs in the areas where they are in shortage which can help in further improving the utilisation of maternal and child healthcare services, and health outcomes. Also, the role of FHWs in the government health system needs to be enhanced by improving skills, working environment, and greater financial incentives.
Childhood immunization and age-appropriate vaccinations in Indonesia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-11-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12889-022-14408-X
Abstract: Childhood immunization is a cost-effective way to protect in iduals against communicable diseases. However, although there is a large literature on childhood immunization in Indonesia, there is a paucity of research on the age-appropriateness on measles and DTwP-3 vaccination, and the inequities in immunization coverage across Indonesia. In this paper, using seven waves of data from the nationally representative Indonesia Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) covering the period 1991- 2017, we empirically analyse the socio-economic and demographic factors influencing the uptake of four routine vaccines (BCG, Polio-3, DTwP-3, and Measles). Specifically, using multivariate regression analysis, we identify the socio-economic and demographic factors influencing childhood immunization coverage. We further analyse the socio-economic and demographic correlates of the age-appropriateness of the measles and DTwP-3 vaccination coverage. Our findings show that parental education and use of healthcare services are strong predictors of full immunization and age-appropriate vaccinations. This study also finds evidence of spatial heterogeneity in both full immunization rates and age-appropriate vaccinations for measles and DTwP-3 vaccines. Our analysis finds that despite an improvement in the timing of vaccinations over the last two decades, a significant proportion of children continue to receive their measles and DTwP vaccinations age inappropriately. In particular, we find that maternal education and maternal engagement with healthcare services are critical in improving age appropriateness of vaccinations. From a policy perspective, these results call for concerted efforts by policy makers to address regional gaps in access to health services and immunization coverage, as well as to improve the age-appropriateness of vaccination.
Labour room violence in Uttar Pradesh, India: evidence from longitudinal study of pregnancy and childbirth
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 07-2019
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2018-028688
Abstract: The major objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of labour room violence (LRV) (one of the forms of obstetric violence) faced by the women during the time of delivery in Uttar Pradesh (UP) (the largest populous state of India which is also considered to be a microcosm of India). Furthermore, this study also analyses the association between prevalence of obstetric violence and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents. The study was longitudinal in design with the first visit to women made at the time of first trimester. The second visit was made at the time of second trimester and the last visit was made after the delivery. However, we have continuously tracked women over phone to keep record of developments and adverse consequences. Urban and rural areas of UP, India. S le of 504 pregnant women was systematically selected from the Integrated Child Development Scheme Register of pregnant women. We aimed to assess the levels and determinants of LRV using data collected from 504 pregnant women in a longitudinal survey conducted in UP, India. The dataset comprised three waves of survey from the inception of pregnancy to childbirth and postnatal care. Logistic regression model has been used to assess the association between prevalence of LRV faced by the women at the time of delivery and their background characteristics. About 15.12% of women are facing LRV in UP, India. Results from logistic regression model (OR) show that LRV is higher among Muslim women (OR 1.8, 95% CI 0.7 to 4.3) relative to Hindu women (OR 1). The prevalence of LRV is higher among lower castes relative to general category, and is higher among those women who have no mass media exposure (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.7 to 12.8) compared with those who have (OR 1). In comparison with global evidence, the level of LRV in India is high. Women from socially disadvantaged communities are facing higher LRV than their counterparts.
Exposure to conflicts and the continuum of maternal healthcare: Analyses of pooled cross-sectional data for 452,192 women across 49 countries and 82 surveys
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 28-09-2021
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PMED.1003690
Abstract: Violent conflicts are observed in many parts of the world and have profound impacts on the lives of exposed in iduals. The limited evidence available from specific country or region contexts suggest that conflict exposure may reduce health service utilization and have adverse affects on health. This study focused on identifying the association between conflict exposure and continuum of care (CoC) services that are crucial for achieving improvements in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition (RMNCHN). We combined data from 2 sources, the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s (UCDP) Georeferenced Event Dataset, for a s le of 452,192 women across 49 countries observed over the period 1997 to 2018. We utilized 2 consistent measures of conflict—incidence and intensity—and analyzed their association with maternal CoC in 4 key components: (i) at least 1 antenatal care (ANC) visit (ii) 4 or more ANC visits (iii) 4 or more ANC visits and institutional delivery and (iv) 4 or more ANC visits, institutional delivery, and receipt of postnatal care (PNC) either for the mother or the child within 48 hours after birth. To identify the association between conflict exposure and components of CoC, we estimated binary logistic regressions, controlling for a large set of in idual and household-level characteristics and year-of-survey and country rovince fixed-effects. This empirical setup allows us to draw comparisons among observationally similar women residing in the same locality, thereby mitigating the concerns over unobserved heterogeneity. Around 39.6% (95% CI: 39.5% to 39.7%) of the s le was exposed to some form of violent conflict at the time of their pregnancy during the study period (2003 to 2018). Although access to services decreased for each additional component of CoC in maternal healthcare for all women, the dropout rate was significantly higher among women who have been exposed to conflict, relative to those who have not had such exposure. From logistic regression estimates, we observed that relative to those without exposure to conflict, the odds of utilization of each of the components of CoC was lower among those women who were exposed to at least 1 violent conflict. We estimated odds ratios of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.82 to 0.91, p 0.001) for at least 1 ANC 0.95 (95% CI: 0.91 to 0.98, p 0.005) for 4 or more ANC and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.89 to 0.96, p 0.001) for 4 or more ANC and institutional delivery. We showed that both the incidence of exposure to conflict as well as its intensity have profound negative implications for CoC. Study limitations include the following: (1) We could not extend the CoC scale beyond PNC due to inconsistent definitions and the lack of availability of data for all 49 countries across time. (2) The measure of conflict intensity used in this study is based on the number of deaths due to the absence of information on other types of conflict-related harms. This study showed that conflict exposure is statistically significantly and negatively associated with utilization of maternal CoC services, in each component of the CoC scale. These findings have highlighted the challenges in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3 in conflict settings, and the need for more concerted efforts in ensuring CoC, to mitigate its negative implications on maternal and child health.
Targeting poverty under complementarities: Evidence from Indonesia's unified targeting system
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Is there a gender gap in child nutritional outcomes in rural China?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2014
Exposure to conflict and child health outcomes: evidence from a large multi-country study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-10-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S13031-022-00483-9
Abstract: Previous research has consistently found evidence of poor health outcomes among children living in conflict areas. However, the methodological focus of these studies has largely been on case studies, chart or registry reviews, qualitative studies, and single country studies. This reflects the need for a comprehensive multi-country analysis of the associations between conflicts and child health over a longer period. This study analyses the adverse impact of exposure to different types of conflicts from in utero to five years of age, on several child health measures across a large group of countries. Our analysis pools data from multiple countries and time-points, to provide robust evidence on the relationship between conflict and child health. Geo-referenced data on various forms of conflict are combined with the Demographic Health Survey dataset, to construct a large unique database of 590,488 pre-school age children across 52 developing countries over the period 1997 to 2018. Our analysis exploits the within-country differences in children’s exposure to conflict from in utero to age five, to estimate its association with health outcomes. Our multivariate regression models estimate the links between conflict exposure and child health outcomes, measured using child nutrition outcomes (height-for-age and weight-for-age z-scores) and immunization status. Empirical estimates show that even after controlling for a large array of socio-economic and demographic characteristics and location fixed effects, conflict exposure is negatively associated with child nutrition and immunization, across all our measures of conflict. These findings are robust across a range of specifications, alternative measures of conflict and sub-s les.
Caesarean deliveries, subsequent reproductive behaviour and children ever born in India
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-01-2022
DOI: 10.1017/S0021932021000754
Abstract: Against the backdrop of the alarming rise in Caesarean section (C-section) births in India, this study aimed to examine the association between C-section births, fertility decline and female sterilization in the country. A cross-sectional design was used to investigate the association between C-section delivery and subsequent reproductive behaviour in women in India. Data were from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4). The study s le comprised 255,726 currently married women in the age group of 15–49 years. The results showed a strong positive relationship between C-section births and female sterilization. The predicted probabilities (PP) from the multivariate regression model indicated a higher chance of female sterilization in women with C-section births (PP = 0.39, p .01) compared with those with non-C-section births (PP = 0.20, p .01). Both state-level correlation plots and Poisson regression estimates showed a strong negative relationship between C-section births and mean children ever born (CEB). Based on the results, it may be concluded that the use of C-sections and sterilization were strongly correlated in India at the time of the NFHS-4, thus together contributing to fertility decline. A strong negative association was found between the occurrence of C-sections and CEB. The increased and undesired use of C-section births and consequent female sterilization is a regressive socio-demographic process that often violates women’s rights. Fertility decline should happen through informed choice of family planning and must protect the reproductive rights of women.
Human capital, kinship, and gender inequality
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 02-09-2012
DOI: 10.1093/OEP/GPR036
Do Kinship Norms Affect Female Education? Evidence from Indonesia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2012
Conflicts and son preference: Micro-level evidence from 58 countries
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.EHB.2022.101146
Abstract: Research on the association between armed conflict and son preference has largely been based on single-country studies, often presenting descriptive patterns. This paper empirically analyzes the association between conflict and son preference using a s le of more than 1.1 million in iduals from 58 countries over the period 2003-2018. We empirically show that both the incidence and intensity of conflict exposure are associated with greater son preference. Moreover, conflict-exposed in iduals are likely to realise their preference for sons, as reflected in the systematically higher prevalence of sons over daughters among these in iduals. To explore the aggregate effects of these findings, we conduct a cross-country analysis of sex ratios and show that history of conflict exposure plays an important role in explaining the cross-country differences in sex ratios.
A Framework to Study Labor Room Violence in a Resource-Poor Setting
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
Date: 2020
Interventions to improve immigrant health. A scoping review
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-02-2017
Out-of-pocket expenditure on maternity care for hospital births in Uttar Pradesh, India
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-02-2018
Progress in child stunting across the world from 1990 to 2015: testing the global convergence hypothesis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 31-08-2021
DOI: 10.1017/S136898002100375X
Abstract: This study has two-fold objectives: first, to test the global convergence hypothesis in the progress of child stunting across 174 countries over the period 1990–2015 second, to identify factors determining the process of convergence or ergence. The study design comprises macro-level cross-country analyses. Our empirical strategy uses parametric convergence models such as absolute and conditional β -convergence models, while non-parametric convergence models such as Kernel density plots serve as robustness checks. The study uses a global setting comprising child stunting information from 174 countries. The participants for this study are 174 countries. The information on child stunting prevalence for most countries is available from the UNICEF-WHO-WB Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates Expanded Database (April-2019), while national-level surveys are used for those countries where UNICEF-WHO-WB Database is not available. The data for socio-economic variables are taken from the World Bank’s data bank (1990–2015). Findings from the absolute β -convergence model estimates show that progress in child stunting has erged over the entire period (1990–2015). However, the speed of ergence has reduced for the recent period (2010–2015). The conditional β -convergence model estimates show that cross-country heterogeneity in GDP per capita, poverty and health care expenditure are significant factors explaining ergence in child stunting. For replacing current ergence with convergence in child stunting worldwide, the study demonstrates the critical role of economic factors and public spending on health care to reduce child stunting, particularly in countries where progress is slow.
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