Impact of Women's Education and Empowerment on Health Status and Wellbeing in Low and Lower Middle Income Countries Open Access
Mirabito, Anne (2012)
Published
Abstract
Women are often the main providers of primary health care and as a result play an important role in maintaining family as well as community health. The links between women's education and empowerment and family health have been well established but the connection between women's education and empowerment and their own health and well-being have been less well researched. This paper seeks to determine what studies have been done concerning the inter-relation of women's education and empowerment and their health status and well-being while also addressing the following questions:
1. What impact does the education and empowerment of women have on women's health and well-being, including but not limited to reducing gender equalities?
2. Which indicators have been used successfully in the past to best monitor women's health and well-being?
3. Which covariates including the social contextual determinants of health must also be present for education and empowerment to have a significant impact?
Low and lower middle income countries were chosen as the focus because of the relationship between low socioeconomic status and poor health status. These countries were identified based World Bank classifications. After a broad search, the topic of health and well-being was narrowed to HIV/AIDS, cardiac disease, mental health and maternal health. These topics were selected based on WHO projections of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among women in low income countries in 2015, 26%, 10%, 10%, and 11% of healthy life years lost respectively. Based on the results of the literature review, there seem to be generally positive links between women's health and well-being and education and empowerment. However, in the instances that education and empowerment had a negative impact, the importance of study setting and cultural norms became very clear. Many of the studies reviewed did not focus on covariates, which are potentially very important to the outcome of programs. As a result, it is recommended that a broad, long term study be conducted in order to better monitor potential covariates and optimize program success. In addition, a list of recommended indicators for future research was compiled.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction and Objectives 1
1.1 Background and Significance 2
1.2 Statement of Problem 4
1.3 Purpose of Study 7
1.4 Research Questions 7
Chapter 2 Methods 8
2.1 Study Selection 10
2.2 Data Collection 11
Chapter 3 Results 11
3.1 Education and Women's Health and Well-Being 11
3.2 Impact of Women's Education and Empowerment on HIV/AIDS
12
3.3 Impact of Women's Education and Empowerment on Cardiac Disease
16
3.4 Impact of Women's Education and Empowerment on Maternal Health
19
3.5 Impact of Women's Education and Empowerment on Mental Health
22
3.6 Impact of Women's Education and Empowerment on Access to Care
25
Chapter 4 Recommendations and Conclusions 27
4.1
Recommendations 27
4.2 Conclusions 29
Resources 33
Appendix 37
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