Peer-reviewed article
Women’s empowerment and child stunting in Peru: a nationally representative analysis
Marisella Chumán-Sánchez, Brando Ortiz-Saavedra, Leonardo J. Uribe-Cavero, Anita P. Llamo-Vilcherrez, Joshua W. Moxey et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how women's empowerment relates to child stunting in Peru using nationally representative data from 16,650 mother-child pairs. The researchers found that stunting affected 11.3% of children, with higher rates among rural and poorer families. Maternal decision-making power was associated with lower stunting rates, but attitudes towards violence and social independence showed no significant relationship after adjustment.
Key points
- Overall child stunting prevalence in Peru was 11.3%, disproportionately affecting rural children and those from lower wealth quintiles
- Higher maternal decision-making empowerment was associated with lower odds of child stunting (medium vs. low: aOR 0.65; high vs. low: aOR 0.48)
- Attitudes towards violence and social independence showed no significant associations with stunting after adjustment for confounders
- The analysis used nationally representative data from the 2021 Demographic and Family Health Survey with complex survey design accounting
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study, so it cannot establish causality or the direction of association between women's empowerment and child stunting. The analysis was restricted to mother-child pairs with complete empowerment data (n=12,696 of 16,650), potentially introducing selection bias.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Child stunting remains a persistent public health challenge in Peru. Although women's empowerment has been linked to improved child health, evidence on its domain-specific relationship with stunting remains limited. The objective of this study was to assess the association between women's empowerment, across attitudes towards violence, social independence, and decision-making, and child stunting in Peru. METHODS: We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study using nationally representative data from the 2021 Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES), including 16,650 mother-child pairs. Analyses of women's empowerment were conducted in a sub-sample with complete SWPER data (n = 12,696). Stunting was defined as height-for-age below - 2 standard deviations of WHO standards. Women's empowerment was measured using the SWPER Global index and categorised into tertiles. All analyses accounted for the complex survey design, including sampling weights. Crude and adjusted logistic regression models estimated odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: The overall prevalence of child stunting was 11.3%. Stunting disproportionately affected disadvantaged groups, particularly children living in rural areas and from lower wealth quintiles. In adjusted analyses, higher maternal decision-making was associated with lower odds of stunting (medium vs. low: aOR 0.65; 95% CI 0.46-0.92; high vs. low: aOR 0.48; 95% CI 0.34-0.69). No significant associations were found for attitudes towards violence or social independence after adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal decision-making empowerment is associated with lower odds of child stunting in Peru. These findings suggest that strategies aimed at improving child nutrition may benefit from incorporating interventions that strengthen women's agency within household decision-making.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
Problem
Child stunting in Peru
- Intervention
- Strengthening women's agency within household decision-making
- Population
- Mother-child pairs in Peru (n=12,696 with complete empowerment data)
Key finding
Higher maternal decision-making was associated with lower odds of stunting compared to low decision-making (medium vs. low: aOR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46-0.92)