Is women's empowerment a pathway to improving child nutrition outcomes in a nutrition-sensitive agriculture program?: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso.

ABSTRACT: Nutrition-sensitive programs in low- and middle-income countries often aim to improve child nutrition outcomes in part by empowering women. Although previous studies have found cross-sectional associations linking women's empowerment and child nutritional status, there is limited empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that empowering women as part of an intervention will, in turn, improve child nutritional outcomes. We tested this hypothesis using two waves of data from a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a nutrition-sensitive agricultural program in Burkina Faso. With structural equation models, we examined whether four domains of women's empowerment-purchasing decisions, healthcare decisions, family planning decisions, and spousal communication-mediated the program's impact on

SUBMITTER: Heckert J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6642337 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature