Women's Empowerment and Nutritional Status of their Children: A Community-based Study from Villages of Bhaktapur District, Nepal

Abstract

Under-nutrition is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children. Since women are often the primary caregivers, their empowerment can influence nutritional status of their children. The objective of the study was to assess relationship between women's empowerment and nutritional status of their children. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in randomly selected five villages of Bhaktapur district. A total of 402 children aged six to 59 months were selected using systematic random sampling and their mothers were interviewed. Women's empowerment was assessed using composite index. Anthropometric measurements were obtained using height board and digital scale. Multivariate logistic analysis was carried out. The results show that among 402 mothers, 18 percent were low empowered whereas 27 percent were highly empowered. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting of children was 13, 19 and 7 percent respectively. Low empowerment of women was found to be positively associated with underweight (AOR=5.070; 95 percent CI: 1.885-13.638), stunting (AOR=3.031; 95 percent CI: 1.281-7.141) and wasting (AOR=10.056; 95 percent CI: 1.127-89.693) of their children. Women with low empowerment had children that were more underweight, stunted and wasted. These results suggest that improving women empowerment could have a positive impact on nutritional status of their children.