Influence of gender-based violence on child's birth weight in Nigeria
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Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Demographic and Social Statistics, Obafemi Awolowo University
Abstract
This study examined the prevalence of gender-based violence during pregnancy and low birth weight prevalence in Nigeria and determined the influence of socio-economic, demographic and health-related factors on child’s birth weight. It also examined the relationship between women’s experience of gender-based violence during pregnancy and child’s birth weight in Nigeria. This was with the view to examining the influence of gender-based violence during pregnancy on child’s birth weight in Nigeria.
Primary and Secondary data were used for the study. The primary data were collected through the conduct of In-depth Interviews (IDI) sessions with nine health workers and seven women who had experienced violence during pregnancy and had at least a birth five years preceding the survey. They were purposively selected from each of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Analysis was done using content analysis. Also, secondary data were obtained from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) which is nationally representative with 83,978 women interviewed in the survey. A weighted sample size of 20,330 women, who had at least a child and were exposed to violence during pregnancy five years preceding the survey was extracted from the 83,978 women and was used for the study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as pie chart and frequency distribution and inferential statistics such as chi-square and logistic regression.
The results revealed a 3% prevalence of gender-based violence during pregnancy and a prevalence of 15% low birth weight in Nigeria.
The result further showed that age of mothers (χ2=86.17, p<0.05), education (χ2=144.97, p<0.05), wealth status (χ2=266.10, p<0.05), residence (χ2=69.86, p<0.05), region (χ2=306.25, p<0.05) influenced child’s birth weight. Similarly, some maternal health-related factors significantly influenced child’s birth weight such as; number of children (χ2=11.36, p<0.05), decision making autonomy on respondent’s health (χ2=76.81, p<0.05) and number of antenatal care visits (χ2=344.01, p<0.05).
The results also revealed that gender-based violence during pregnancy had no significant influence on child’s birth weight (χ2=0.39, p>0.05). For instance, women who experienced gender-based violence during pregnancy had lower incidence of low birth weight delivery (14%) than their counterparts who did not experience gender-based violence during pregnancy (15%). Finally, multivariate results showed that gender-based violence during pregnancy do not influence child’s birth weight.
The study concluded that exposure to gender-based violence during pregnancy does not influence a woman’s likelihood of delivering low birth weight children in Nigeria.
Description
xv,142p
Keywords
Gender, Pregnancy, Antenatal, Birth weight, Gender based violence, Violence
Citation
Oyinloye, B.O. (2015). Influence of gender-based violence on child's birth weight in Nigeria. Obafemi Awolowo University