Abstract

AGUILAR, Lucila. Maternal empowerment: an index for understanding child malnutrition in Bolivia?. rlde [online]. 2022, n.38, pp.9-45.  Epub Nov 30, 2022. ISSN 2074-4706.  https://doi.org/10.35319/lajed.20223844.

The document presents the construction of a maternal empowerment index based on a factor analysis using the principal components method. Secondly, it is analyzed whether the index has a link with child malnutrition in children under 5 years old in Bolivia, for which anthropometric indicators are used as independent variables: height for age, weight for age and weight for height, as well as malnutrition due to anemia. In order to measure the correlation between the empowerment index and the different dependent variables, logit and probit models are used to give reliability to the estimates presented. The results show that there is an inverse association between this index and the indicator of long-term child malnutrition: height for age. The results differ according to the area and region of residence, in rural areas and in the highlands and the plains the influence of the index is greater, but it does not seem to have any influence in the valleys. Therefore, the study suggests that, in order to reduce the levels of child malnutrition, it may be necessary to promote the different components of the index, such as: completion of high school and continuous access to information, highlighting violence as an event that should not be allowed, encourage future mothers to take part in both household and personal decisions and support women for their insertion in the labor market.

Keywords : Maternal empowerment; child malnutrition; principal component analysis; factor analysis.

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