African Population Studies (UAPS) / Etude de la Population Africaine (UEPA)
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Predisposing factors and consequences of childbearing among young unmarried women in North West, South Africa
No full textThis study aims at describing the predisposing factors and consequences of pregnancy in young girls. The main research questions addressed are why young and unmarried women bear children? And what are the consequences of having a child at an early age? A qualitative study on young mothers was conducted in the North West province of South Africa. The results revealed that pregnancy for most of the participants was unintentional and happened due to ignorance. Other predisposing factors include external pressure, wrong or sporadic use of contraception and rape. Most participants had a strong negative attitude towards induced abortion. The study provides four recommendations: revisit the life orientation programme in schools and make it more efficient in delivering sexuality education; young unmarried women should be motivated to use contraception properly if they are sexually active; advocacy is needed on use of abortion services as an option; and measures should be put in place so as to improve parent-daughter communication on sexual matters
Reaching the Urban Poor with Health Interventions: The Case of Hiv Testing In Nairobi Urban Informal Settlements, Kenya
No full textHIV testing and counseling (HCT) is an entry point to HIV prevention, treatment, and care. In Kenya, national-level data show an astronomical growth in testing. However, national estimates blur sub-group testing differentials and fail to reflect the situation of the most vulnerable groups. We draw on data from 6,035 women and men of reproductive age interviewed in the 2012 Nairobi Cross-sectional Slum Survey and 11,909 women and men interviewed in the 2008/09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey to compare the levels of HIV testing among residents of Nairobi slums and the rest of Nairobi and Kenya. We found that a greater proportion of Nairobi slum dwellers had been tested for HIV compared with residents in other parts of Nairobi and Kenya as a whole. This counter-intuitive finding may be explained by the specific advantage of slum dwellers over the rest of the country in accessing HIV testing services through mobile clinics and research studies. Relatively disadvantaged sub-groups such as women aged 15-19 years and the never married were most likely to be tested in mobile clinics or research studies. Our findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions to reduce inequities in access to HTC service
Do cultural beliefs and practices influence place of delivery among women ? A case of Ibanda district, Uganda
No full textThe paper investigates cultural beliefs and practices that influence women’s choice of the place of delivery in Ibanda district of Uganda. Primary survey data on 144 women aged 20-49 years, 10 traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and 5 focus group discussions were used in the analysis. Results showed that 55% of the women delivered from home. Cultural beliefs and practices in the area included use of herbs, burial of placenta, compression of womb, unexposed private parts and delivering alone, but did not determine place of delivery. Multivariate analysis found that level of education and type of housing were the most influential variables. Qualitative data identified reasons for rural women preferring home as a place of delivery including home convenience, family support, rude behaviour by health workers, past positive experience with home delivery, quick labour progression and preference for TBAs. Train current TBAs to recognize and refer risky pregnancies to health facilitie
Trends in Gender Inequalities in Life Expectancies at Birth in Africa, 1950-2015
No full textIn this paper, life expectancies by gender are presented for countries and regions in Africa. The gender gaps in life expectancy are calculated. Data on life expectancies by sex for African countries are available from the UNDESA and the latest estimates of 2015 are used. Four patterns of gender gap in life expectancy at birth trends are observed in Africa. The first group have high life expectancies and large gender gaps and comprises of mainly small islands (Seychelles, Mauritius and Mayotte) and those in North Africa whole life expectancy at birth has exceeded 70 years. The second group are those countries where the gap has been stable but narrowed during the peak of the AIDS epidemic but has started widening in recent times and comprising countries mainly in Southern Africa. Group 3 are those countries where the gender gaps has been low over the period and have narrowed or remained consistently low in recent times, mainly in West Africa. The last group comprises of countries where life expectancy at birth for males exceeds that of females. Currently, Swaziland and Mali are the only countries exhibiting this pattern. Thus, some few countries in Africa have followed trends that have been experienced by developed countries and many have followed a different patter
Factors contributing to maternal mortality in relatively resource-endowed urban contexts of developing countries: the case of Nairobi, Kenya
No full textThis paper examines factors contributing to maternal mortality in Nairobi County of Kenya. Data are from a study that involved a review of 93 records of maternal deaths at health facilities as well as verbal and social autopsy interviews with 71 caregivers of women who died of maternal-related causes in the community. Results showed that most maternal deaths occurred to women who were young, married, with low levels of education and those having at least two births. In addition, maternal deaths in the County were mostly due to poor health-seeking behaviour, delays at the household level in seeking care, poor referral mechanisms between facilities, poor provider attitudes, and lack of skilled human resources. The findings suggest that programs aimed at improving maternal health in the County need to focus on empowering households to recognize danger signs early, improving referral mechanisms, and enhancing the capacity of providers to offer quality service
The Effect of Changing Proximate Determinants on Fertility Levels among Urban Poor Women in Kenya: Evidence from Nairobi’s Informal Settlements, 2000-2012
No full textSlum dwellers constitute an increasing share of urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines changes in proximate determinants of fertility in slums in Nairobi, Kenya between 2000 and 2012. We used data from the Nairobi Cross-sectional Slum Surveys (NCSS) conducted in in all Nairobi’s informal settlements, among 3,256 women aged 15-49 in 2000 and 4,240 aged 12-49 in 2012. We employed Stover’s revised proximate determinants of fertility framework to assess the relative contribution of contraception, marriage, sterility and postpartum insusceptibility to the fertility levels between 2000 and 2012. There has been a change in the influence of the proximate determinants in Nairobi’s slums. Marriage as measured by recent sexual activity had the largest inhibiting effect in 2000, whereas contraception had the largest effect in 2012. Findings suggest the need to sustain and/or strengthen FP/SRH initiatives that emphasize contraceptive use among women in urban slums in Keny
Facteurs de risque pour les maladies diarrhéiques chez les enfants à Dakar : une analyse multi-niveaux avec variables latentes
No full textAu Sénégal, les maladies diarrhéiques constituent un fardeau important, qui pèse encore lourdement sur la santé des enfants. Ces maladies sont influencées par un large éventail de facteurs, appartenant à différents niveaux et sphères d'analyse. Cet article analyse ces facteurs de risque et leur rôle relatif dans les maladies diarrhéiques de l'enfant à Dakar. Ce faisant, elle illustre une nouvelle approche pour synthétiser le réseau de ces déterminants. Une analyse en classes latentes (LCA) est d’abord menée, puis les variables latentes ainsi construites sont utilisées comme variables explicatives dans une régression logistique sur trois niveaux. Les résultats confirment que les déterminants des diarrhées chez l'enfant appartiennent aux trois niveaux d'analyse et que les facteurs comportementaux et l'assainissement du quartier jouent un rôle prépondérant. Les résultats illustrent aussi l'utilité des LCA pour synthétiser plusieurs indicateurs, afin de créer une image causale intégrée, tout en utilisant des modèles statistiques parcimonieux
Socio-economic consequences of development-induced internal displacement and the coping strategies of female victims in Lagos Nigeria: An ethno-demographic study
Get PDFThe plethora of violent strife, man-made or natural disasters, economic vicissitudes, and major development schemes have swelled the number refugees and internally displaced people, in the developing countries of the world lately. Statistics revealed that there are over 55 million people in this dire situation globally consisting of over 38 million internally displacedpeople, over 16 million refugees and over 1 million asylum-seekers. This study highlights the impacts, the socio-economic consequences of development-induced internal displacement on females in the Lagos urban space, evaluating the coping strategies employed by them. This is a qualitative study that employed a combination of key informant and in-depth interview methods to generate primary data from the samples purposively drawn from the population of interestwhich comprised people forcibly evicted from Badia, in Lagos State, Nigeria. The interviews were conducted from Tuesday 14th to Thursday 16th October 2014 using unstructured interview guide. The study establishes thatforcible eviction and the consequent displacements brought a myriad of economic, social and psychological hardships on the female victims in Badia, to which they were compelled to devise various ingenious survival and coping strategies. The study ascertains that women cope better emotionally and economically than men in such circumstances and it also found that extended family members are a significant pillar of support to displaced persons
Disparités géographiques de fécondité et de nuptialité en Tunisie : divergences et convergences
No full textDe 1965 à 1999, la fécondité tunisienne est tombée de 7,5 à 2,1 enfants par femme et s’est ensuite maintenue à ce niveau pendant plus de dix ans. De son côté, l’âge moyen au premier mariage des femmes, dont la forte augmentation a été un facteur important de la maitrise de la fécondité, s’est stabilisé dès la fin des années 1980. Passé de 21 à 29 ans, il n’a guère bougé depuis. Ces faits sont connus au niveau national, mais leur diversité géographique l’est beaucoup moins. Pour analyser cette dernière, plusieurs sources de données, souvent difficiles d’accès, ont été mobilisées. Elles nous permettent de voir que tant du côté de la fécondité que de celui de la nuptialité, la géographie a beaucoup changé. Non seulement partout la fécondité a profondément baissé tandis que l’âge moyen au premier mariage des femmes augmentait très fortement, mais les disparités régionales ont beaucoup évolué. Après une phase de forte divergence, les fécondités régionales ont convergé vers le taux de remplacement. Quant à la carte de l’âge au mariage, elle s’est complètement inversée. Il en résulte que les rapports entre la diversité régionale de la fécondité et celle de la nuptialité ne sont ni simples ni très affirmés
Bio-social correlates of intention to use or not to use contraception: The case of Ghana and Nigeria
No full textBased on the 2008 and 2013 Demographic and Health Survey data of Ghana and Nigeria respectively, statistical neural network and logit regression models were used to examine the effects of selected bio-social factors on the intention to use contraception among never married and ever married women in the two countries. Results showed that on the whole, the SNN model identified more biosocial factors affecting the intention to use contraception in the two countries than did the logit model. Educational attainment, exposure to media, and visitation to a health facility affected intention to use contraception significantly and positively in both countries. On the other hand, number of living children, infrequent sexual intercourse, postpartum amenorrhea, opposition to contraception and lack of access to contraceptives negatively affected intention to use contraception. The study findings have underscored the rational nature of the decisions women make in using contraception or not.