Associations Between Orphan and Vulnerable Child Caregiving, Household Wealth Disparities, and Women's Overweight Status in Three Southern African Countries Participating in Demographic Health Surveys

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Matern Child Health J
• Personal Author:
  Kanamori, Mariano J. ; Carter-Pokras, Olivia D. ; Madhavan, Sangeetha ; Lee, Sunmin ; He, Xin ; Feldman, Robert H.
• Description:
  Objectives
  
  This study examines whether orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) primary caregivers are facing absolute household wealth (AWI) disparities, the association between AWI and women’s overweight status, and the modifying role of OVC primary caregiving status on this relationship.
  
  Methods
  
  Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) data (2006–2007) from 20–49 year old women in Namibia (n=6,305), Swaziland (n=2,786), and Zambia (n=4,389) were analyzed using weighted marginal means and logistic regressions.
  
  Results
  
  OVC primary caregivers in Namibia and Swaziland had a lower mean AWI than other women in the same country. In Zambia, OVC primary caregivers had a lower mean AWI score than non-primary caregivers living with an OVC but a higher mean AWI score than non-OVC primary caregivers. In Swaziland and Zambia, even small increases in household wealth were associated with higher odds for being overweight regardless of women’s caregiving status. Only in Namibia, OVC primary caregiving modified the effect of the previous association. Among Namibian OVC primary caregivers, women who had at least medium household wealth (4 or more AWI items) were more likely to be overweight than their poorest counterparts (0 or 1 AWI items).
  
  Conclusions
  
  OVC primary caregivers are facing household wealth disparities as compared to other women from their communities. Future studies/interventions should consider using population-based approaches to reach women from every household wealth level to curb overweight in Swaziland and Zambia and to focus on specific household wealth characteristics that are associated with OVC primary caregivers’ overweight status in Namibia.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Article Caregivers Child Child, Orphaned Cross-Sectional Studies Economic Factors Family Characteristics Female Health Status Health Surveys Humans Income Logistic Models Middle Aged Overweight Poverty Residence Characteristics Socioeconomic Factors Vulnerable Populations

  More +
• Source:
  Matern Child Health J. 19(8):1662-1671.
• Pubmed ID:
  25630405
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4503492
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  1 U48 DP001929/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States ; P20 MD002288/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States ; P20MD002288/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States ; R24 HD041041/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  Africa South of the Sahara ; Namibia ; Swaziland ; Zambia
• Volume:
  19
• Issue:
  8
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d93c6e26b48a05b003da132b6fe1b6e73492c24fb7df00bafdf9acbd848288ca
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/34258/cdc_34258_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.29 MB ]