Fernanda Ewerling

The SWPER index for women's empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data

Summary Background The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel womens empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on womens empowerment. Methods We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 African countries, targeting currently partnered women. We identified items related to womens empowerment present in most surveys, and used principal component analysis to extract the components. We carried out a convergent validation process using coverage of three health interventions as outcomes; and an external validation process by analysing correlations with the Gender Development Index. Findings 15 items related to womens empowerment were selected. We retained three components (50% of total variation) which, after rotation, were identified as three dimensions of empowerment: attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making. All dimensions had moderate to high correlation with the Gender Development Index. Social independence was associated with higher coverage of maternal and child interventions; attitude to violence and decision making were more consistently associated with the use of modern contraception. Interpretation The index, named Survey-based Womens emPowERment index (SWPER), has potential to widen the research on womens empowerment and to give a better estimate of its effect on health interventions and outcomes. It allows within-country and between-country comparison, as well as time trend analysis, which no other survey-based index provides. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Os determinantes socioeconômicos do estado de saúde das crianças do Brasil rural

This study aims to analyze the socioeconomic determinants of children’s individual health state in the countryside of Brazil, using data from PNAD 2008. Probit and ordered probit were used in the analysis. Main results show that elements, such as better health of parents, higher income, higher information levels, access to high quality water, besides governmental policies, such as ProgramaSaude da Familia,are positively related with children’s health. Besides the negative effect of the poor socioeconomic conditions on health in childhood, it is known that worse health in childhood can generate, in the future, new poor socioeconomic conditions forthese children. Thus, this circle could be a mechanism of poverty perpetuation. Therefore, governmental policies which affect children’s health in a positive way can promote favorable resultsfor the population.

Factors associated with smoking cessation in Brazil

Tobacco has been identified as the drug with the highest addiction rate and the leading cause of avoidable deaths. The current study thus aimed to identify the determinants of smoking cessation in a Brazilian population sample based on data from the National Household Sample Survey for 2008. The study analyzed socioeconomic, residential, and health-related data as well as individual habits. Data analysis used Poisson regression. The following factors were associated with smoking cessation: age 45 years or older, higher income, medical consultation in the previous 12 months, private health plan, physical exercise, believing that smoking is bad for ones health and that cigarette smoke is harmful to passive smokers, and Internet access in the household. Subjects with heart conditions, diabetes, and cancer were also more prone to quit smoking.O tabaco e apontado como a droga com maior porcentual de dependencia entre as drogas aditivas e, tambem, como o maior causador de mortes evitaveis. Nesse sentido, este estudo visou a encontrar os determinantes de cessacao do tabagismo para a populacao brasileira com base nos dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios de 2008. Foram analisadas informacoes socioeconomicas, de zona e regiao de residencia, de saude e habitos dos individuos. A analise dos dados envolveu estimacoes utilizando-se a regressao de Poisson. Os resultados mostram que fatores como ter 45 anos ou mais, possuir renda mais elevada, ter consultado medico nos ultimos 12 meses, ter plano de saude, praticar exercicios fisicos, acreditar que o tabaco faz mal a saude, que a fumaca do cigarro compromete a saude dos fumantes passivos, e ter Internet no domicilio se relacionam positivamente com a cessacao do tabagismo. Alem disso, pessoas com problemas cardiacos, diabetes e câncer mostraram uma maior propensao a deixar de fumar.

Como as mudanças na posse de bens afetam o Indicador Econômico Nacional em 10 anos

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE Our main objective was to analyse how the evolution of household assets ownership affected the Indicador Econômico Nacional (IEN – National Wealth index) and to point out the most stable assets and which lost importance more quickly. METHODS We analysed the trend of the ownership of each IEN variable and the distribution of the households’ scores. We calculated the correlation coefficients of each variable separately with the IEN score and the household income. We also evaluated how the changes of the score distribution over time affected the validity of the published reference cut-points. We used data from consortium surveys conducted every two years from 2002 to 2014 in the city of Pelotas, Brazil. RESULTS An increase in the educational level of household heads and in the ownership of all IEN assets, except radio and telephone, was observed in the study period. In general, the correlation of the assets with the IEN scores decreased over time. There was an increase in the score, with a consequent increase in the quintiles cut-points, but the distance between these cut-points had no significant variation. Thus, the reference cut-points for Pelotas, quickly became outdated. CONCLUSIONS Some assets showed greatly reduction on its importance for the indicator, and the reference cut-points became obsolete very quickly. It is essential for a standardized wealth (or asset) index with research purposes to be updated frequently, especially the cut-points of reference distribution.OBJETIVO Analisar como a evolucao temporal da posse de bens domesticos afetou o Indicador Economico Nacional e como essas mudancas afetaram o poder discriminatorio do indicador. METODOS Analisou-se a evolucao temporal da posse de cada uma das variaveis do Indicador Economico Nacional, bem como da distribuicao do escore dos domicilios. Utilizamos dados de inqueritos populacionais […]

Measuring women's empowerment: A need for context and caution - Authors' reply

Womens empowerment is a complex concept, with no consensus on its definition or on the domains that compose the construct. Thus, it is expected that any attempt to measure empowerment will have limitations and will not satisfy all parties interested in the topic. However, we know that an attribute that is not measurable or measured tends to be overlooked. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) raised the need for a measure of womens empowerment so that it can be monitored and compared between contexts and stakeholders made accountable.

Fatores associados à cessação do tabagismo no Brasil

Tobacco has been identified as the drug with the highest addiction rate and the leading cause of avoidable deaths. The current study thus aimed to identify the determinants of smoking cessation in a Brazilian population sample based on data from the National Household Sample Survey for 2008. The study analyzed socioeconomic, residential, and health-related data as well as individual habits. Data analysis used Poisson regression. The following factors were associated with smoking cessation: age 45 years or older, higher income, medical consultation in the previous 12 months, private health plan, physical exercise, believing that smoking is bad for ones health and that cigarette smoke is harmful to passive smokers, and Internet access in the household. Subjects with heart conditions, diabetes, and cancer were also more prone to quit smoking.O tabaco e apontado como a droga com maior porcentual de dependencia entre as drogas aditivas e, tambem, como o maior causador de mortes evitaveis. Nesse sentido, este estudo visou a encontrar os determinantes de cessacao do tabagismo para a populacao brasileira com base nos dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios de 2008. Foram analisadas informacoes socioeconomicas, de zona e regiao de residencia, de saude e habitos dos individuos. A analise dos dados envolveu estimacoes utilizando-se a regressao de Poisson. Os resultados mostram que fatores como ter 45 anos ou mais, possuir renda mais elevada, ter consultado medico nos ultimos 12 meses, ter plano de saude, praticar exercicios fisicos, acreditar que o tabaco faz mal a saude, que a fumaca do cigarro compromete a saude dos fumantes passivos, e ter Internet no domicilio se relacionam positivamente com a cessacao do tabagismo. Alem disso, pessoas com problemas cardiacos, diabetes e câncer mostraram uma maior propensao a deixar de fumar.

Factores asociados con el abandono del tabaquismo en Brasil

Tobacco has been identified as the drug with the highest addiction rate and the leading cause of avoidable deaths. The current study thus aimed to identify the determinants of smoking cessation in a Brazilian population sample based on data from the National Household Sample Survey for 2008. The study analyzed socioeconomic, residential, and health-related data as well as individual habits. Data analysis used Poisson regression. The following factors were associated with smoking cessation: age 45 years or older, higher income, medical consultation in the previous 12 months, private health plan, physical exercise, believing that smoking is bad for ones health and that cigarette smoke is harmful to passive smokers, and Internet access in the household. Subjects with heart conditions, diabetes, and cancer were also more prone to quit smoking.O tabaco e apontado como a droga com maior porcentual de dependencia entre as drogas aditivas e, tambem, como o maior causador de mortes evitaveis. Nesse sentido, este estudo visou a encontrar os determinantes de cessacao do tabagismo para a populacao brasileira com base nos dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios de 2008. Foram analisadas informacoes socioeconomicas, de zona e regiao de residencia, de saude e habitos dos individuos. A analise dos dados envolveu estimacoes utilizando-se a regressao de Poisson. Os resultados mostram que fatores como ter 45 anos ou mais, possuir renda mais elevada, ter consultado medico nos ultimos 12 meses, ter plano de saude, praticar exercicios fisicos, acreditar que o tabaco faz mal a saude, que a fumaca do cigarro compromete a saude dos fumantes passivos, e ter Internet no domicilio se relacionam positivamente com a cessacao do tabagismo. Alem disso, pessoas com problemas cardiacos, diabetes e câncer mostraram uma maior propensao a deixar de fumar.