The Effect of Women’s Empowerment on Child Health

Women’s empowerment direct indicator and its relationship to child health outcomes have been investigated using a sample of 22,462 under five years ’ children in Nigeria and 45,516 India. The data used in the study was obtained from the 2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) as well as the third round of National Family and Health Survey NFHS-3 India. Women’s empowerment in both study areas were examined through women’s decision-making autonomy in the household. In relation to this further, we examined the determinants of child health using two important indicators, viz: Child’s immunization status and child’s nutritional status (stunting status). The influence of women’s decision-making autonomy on the child health practices appears to be paramount for every child’s well-being and for their healthy growth and development. In this study, women’s empowerment major indicator was used as the independent variable, while the indicators of child health status as dependent variables. Descriptive and multivariate statistics were employed in order to establish a relationship between of women’s empowerment indicator and child health outcomes. Alongside with these measures of empowerment and child health status, we equally considered their relationship with some of the socio economic and background characteristics of women, men and children. The results obtained in the study revealed that there is a strong and positive influence of the active participation of women in making decisions in the household on their children’s health status