Aboagye, Richard Gyan, Donkoh, Irene Esi, Okyere, Joshua, Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku, and Yaya, Sanni (2024) Can women empowerment boost dietary diversity among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa? Tropical Medicine and Health, 52. 39.

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Abstract

Background: The empowerment of women has implications on the health and dietary needs of children. Using the survey-based women’s empowerment index (SWPER), we examined the association between women’s empowerment and dietary diversity among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 21 countries were utilized. Descriptive spatial map was used to present the proportions of dietary diversity among the children. Multilevel binary logistic regression was used to examine the association between SWPER and dietary diversity.

Results: Overall, 22.35% of children aged 6–23 months had adequate minimum dietary diversity (MDD) in sub-Saharan Africa. The countries with the highest proportions of adequate MDD were Angola, Benin, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. South Africa had the highest proportion of MDD (61.00%), while Liberia reported the least (9.12%). Children born to mothers who had high social independence were more likely to have adequate MDD compared to those with low social independence [aOR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.21, 1.41]. In addition, children born to women with medium [aOR = 1.12; 95% CI 1.03, 1.21] and high decision-making [aOR = 1.25, 95% CI 1.14, 1.37] were more likely to receive MDD than those with low decision-making.

Conclusions: Insufficient dietary diversity is evident among children aged 6–23 months in sub-Saharan Africa. MDD in children is influenced by women's empowerment. Policies and interventions promoting women's empowerment can enhance MDD, especially for vulnerable groups in rural and poorer households. It is crucial to leverage media and poverty reduction strategies to improve MDD among children in sub-Saharan African countries.

Item ID:	85222
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1349-4147
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2025 23:10
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420606 Social determinants of health @ 50% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420601 Community child health @ 50%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200410 Nutrition @ 50% 20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200506 Neonatal and child health @ 50%
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