Empowerment of Mothers and its Impact on the Health of Children: A Comparative Analysis of North-Eastern Region and the Rest of India

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Title

Public Health and Nutrition the South Asian and Southeast Asian Landscape

Abstract

Introduction: There is no denying of mothers' crucial role in nurturing a child. Studies have shown the greater contribution of mothers in raising children, especially in the early days of childhood, than their male counterparts. Therefore, empowering mothers would enhance their capacity in shaping the future of their children. This paper tries to understand how empowerment of mothers indicated by several factors affects not only the health status of the mothers but also the health of children in North-East India vis a vis the rest of India. Methods: Analysis is done by using NFHS Round 5 data on child's (0–5 years) weight at birth, age, sex, height, status of BCG, DPT, Polio, Measles other vaccinations, hemoglobin, and mothers' level of education, mothers' age, various other healthcare measures. Bivariate frequency tables were computed, and Chi-square tests were performed to see if the relevant variables were dependent. Empowerment of North-East mothers in comparison to the rest of India is examined through the indicators of education, extent of reading newspaper, watching television, wealth index, religion, etc. that raise awareness and affect empowerment as reflected through their participation in decision making in the family, their psychological thinking about wife beating and undertake breastfeeding, BMI, anemia, etc. Health status of children is examined through HAZ, WAZ, WHZ, anemia, and BMI level. Logistic regression is used to examine the impact on status of each health variable of children of various attributes of mothers and empowerment indicators.Results: The result reveals relatively better health status of mothers in North-East as compared to the rest of India. Excepting preference for birth in hospital, immunization, and post-natal care, in other respects North-Eastern mothers take care of children including breastfeeding and maintaining mothers' health during pregnancy which resulted in better child health in North-East India. As usual, in education and earning North-Eastern mothers are better placed as compared to the rest of India, and thus they are comparatively more empowered, which can be correlated with better health conditions as measured by HAZ, WAZ, WHZ, and BMI. The logistic regression results also suggest that conditions of empowerment lead to better child health. Conclusion: The findings suggest that in comparison to women in other parts of the country, being more literate, and having more social empowerment as evidenced from the indicators, women in North-East India take some extra care by extended breast feeding and maintaining mothers' health so that healthy baby is born and they need not go for a higher number of vaccinations of children apart from basic immunizations provided by the government free of cost. Also, mothers' empowerment level in all respects is very important for their healthcare, which puts North-Eastern region a little ahead in many respects.

First Page

125

Last Page

143

DOI

10.1007/978-981-97-7890-4_9

Publication Date

1-1-2024

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