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June 24, 2022

Gender-Related Inequality in Childhood Immunization Coverage: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of DTP3 Coverage and Zero-Dose DTP Prevalence in 52 Countries Using the SWPER Global Index

Harmful gender norms, unbalanced distribution of power, and restricted decision-making for women are persistent in many settings and could decrease the probability of a child to be vaccinated.  To investigate the role of women’s social independence on child immunization we analysed data data from 52 low- and middle-income countries. We looked at children who received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis containing vaccine (DPT3). We found that, in general, children of mothers w

June 06, 2022

The role of female permanent contraception in meeting the demand for family planning in low- and middle-income countries

Coverage of demand for family planning satisfied by modern methods is increasing in most countries. However, despite the development and improvement of reversible methods, the proportion of contraceptive users relying on female permanent contraception is still large in several countries. Our recently published study aimed to identify countries with high reliance on it and to describe socio-economic and demographic inequalities in its use. The findings of this study highlight the hig

May 16, 2022

Ethnic disparities in immunisation: analyses of zero-dose prevalence in 64 countries

The WHO Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) envisions ‘a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines to improve health and well-being’ and has as one of its targets the reduction of the number of zero-dose children globally by 50% by 2030. Although analyses of inequalities in immunization coverage are plentiful in the literature, studies on ethnicity remain poorly investigated in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Therefore, we examined ethnic

May 10, 2022

Health and development from preconception to 20 years of age to build human capital

For human capital formation and a prosperous future, development and optimal health are crucial, from preconception to adulthood. The Nurturing Care Framework conceptualizes the influences that affect human capital occur during developmental periods, from preconception, through pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence (adapted to age 20). Other important considerations are stillbirths, mortality in children under 5 years of age, and deaths in children aged 5 to 19. It is estimated that in 2019, 8.6

May 10, 2022

Effects of early-life poverty on health and human capital in children and adolescents: analyses of national surveys and birth cohort studies in LMICs

Over the past two decades, the nutrition and survival of children (and to a lesser extent, adolescents) have improved substantially. Large disparities between and within countries persist, despite improvements associated with effective delivery of biomedical, behavioral, and environmental interventions. We analyzed how strongly the health, nutrition and cognitive development of children and adolescents are related to early-life poverty, using data from 95 national surveys low- and middle-income

April 19, 2022

Economic-related inequalities in zero-dose children: a study of non-receipt of diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis immunization using household health survey data from 89 low- and middle-income countries

Vaccines are one of the best buys in public health. However, worldwide, 17.1 million children did not receive at least one dose of the three-dose diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis (DTP) series. Major global immunization initiatives have adopted an intensified focus on reaching zero-dose children (operationalized as children with zero doses of DTP). We quantified the extent of socioeconomic inequality and change over time in zero-dose DTP prevalence using 156 household surveys conducted

April 11, 2022

ICEH database reaches 450 analyzed surveys

The year is 2022, the month is March, and the magic number is 450. This is the total number of surveys analyzed by the International Center for Equity in Health with the inclusion of 15 surveys to the database in this last round of analysis. The latest update added three surveys from the Demographic and Health Survey program, nine Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and three non-standard national health surveys from Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador. Three countries appeared for the first time in our d

April 05, 2022

Children of more empowered women are less likely to be left without vaccination in low- and middle-income countries: A global analysis of 50 DHS surveys

Gender-related barriers to vaccination have an important role in public health. To understand these issues, we used a measure of women’s empowerment and explored its association with the prevalence of zero-dose in children aged 12-23 months from 50 low- and middle-income countries. We found that children of women with lower empowerment level presented a zero-dose prevalence 3 times higher than children of mothers with higher empowerment level. Mother’s empowerment had a higher effect