Tracing shadows

How gendered power relations shape the impacts of maternal death on living children in sub Saharan Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4973687
AutoresAlicia Ely Yamin (0000-0002-5801-8946, Harvard Global Health Institute, autor de correspondencia), Junior Bazile (Public Health Institute of Malawi), Lucia Knight (0000-0001-9938-6887, Human Sciences Research Council), Mitike Molla (Addis Ababa University), Emily Maistrellis (0000-0002-3514-6566, Boston Children's Hospital), Jennifer Leaning (0000-0001-5390-2858, Harvard Global Health Institute)
Año2015
Volumen135
Páginas143-150
Fecha de publicación2015-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.033
PMID25965895
OpenAlexW1991314699
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas27

Driven by the need to better understand the full and intergenerational toll of maternal mortality (MM), a mixed-methods study was conducted in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa to investigate the impacts of maternal death on families and children. The present analysis identifies gender as a fundamental driver not only of maternal, but also child health, through manifestations of gender inequity in household decision making, labor and caregiving, and social norms dictating the status of women. Focus group discussions were conducted with community members, and in depth qualitative interviews with key-informants and stakeholders, in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, and South Africa between April 2012 and October 2013. Findings highlight that socially constructed gender roles, which define mothers as caregivers and fathers as wage earners, and which limit women's agency regarding childcare decisions, among other things, create considerable gaps when it comes to meeting child nutrition, education, and health care needs following a maternal death. Additionally, our findings show that maternal deaths have differential effects on boy and girl children, and exacerbate specific risks for girl children, including early marriage, early pregnancy, and school drop-out. To combat both MM, and to mitigate impacts on children, investment in health services interventions should be complemented by broader interventions regarding social protection, as well as aimed at shifting social norms and opportunity structures regarding gendered divisions of labor and power at household, community, and society levels

Agency (philosophy · Child marriage · Child mortality · Developmental psychology · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Focus group · Girl · Population · Psychological intervention · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Global Maternal and Child Health · Medicine · Nursing · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology