Women Empowerment and Child Health Outcomes in Ghana

Gloria Essilfie, University of Cape Coast
Joshua Sebu, University of Cape Coast

Adequate nutrition is critical to children’s growth and development as the period from birth to age two is especially important for physical, mental, cognitive growth, health and development. The study aims to examine how different dimension of women empowerment affect the health outcomes of children under the age of five. Using a sample size of 2,369 households from 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHS), quantile regression technique was employed to evaluate the consequence of various dimensions of women empowerment on child nutritional status (stunting, underweight and wasting). The study underscore the role of mother’s education, autonomy and access to health scheme as critical indicators for improving the nutritional outcomes of children under the age of five. The study therefore recommend that policies aimed at improving child nutrition should include educating mothers level as well as making health scheme accessible to mothers.