Final project_Mozambique DHS women’s recode survey
Introduction
About the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS):
The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are a series of standardized surveys conducted periodically in developing countries that collect data on various aspects of population, health, and nutrition.
About DHS data used for the report:
This final data analysis project will be conducted on the individual recode data set for Mozambique. The dataset contains individual-level information on men and women aged 15 to 49 in the surveyed households. This analysis focuses on the women data.
Year of fieldwork: 2011
Full data set for Mozambique: 13,745 women, 13,919 households, 4,035 men
About the analyses
This project will investigate factors that may influence or affect a woman’s likelihood to exclusively breastfeed in Mozambique. The factors that will be considered include:
place of residence and level of educational attainment
having children at an early age and/or having more children
currently married and/or currently working
having greater say on her health care and/or church attendance
Also view the Labels for variables used in project section for a full list of variables and their names.
Characteristics of the data
The mean age of women in the data is 28.5, illustrating a relatively young group of women.
The mean age of women in rural and urban areas is similar: 27.8 for urban areas and 28.9 in rural areas (table 1).
| Mean Age by Urban and Rural Residence | |
| type of place of residence | mean_age |
|---|---|
| urban | 27.84287 |
| rural | 28.97985 |
Majority of the women surveyed live in rural areas (table 2).
| Percentage of women in rural and urban areas | ||
| type of place of residence | n | percent |
|---|---|---|
| urban | 5804 | 42.22626 |
| rural | 7941 | 57.77374 |
The ethnicity of the women surveyed reflects a diverse group of women from different cultural background, with a majority of women belonging to the Xichangana tribe.
Most of the women surveyed reported having no education level. Of those who completed some education, a majority attended primary education (plot on the left).
However further investigation shows that a large percentage of women did not complete primary school (plot on the right).
Breastfeeding Trends
According to the WHO, exclusive breastfeeding means giving an infant breast milk for the first six months of life. No other liquids or solids are given – not even water – with the exception of oral re-hydration solution, or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines.
By this definition, no women surveyed qualify as exclusively breastfeeding (table 3).
| exclusive_breastfeed | n |
|---|---|
| Not exclusive | 13745 |
Therefore, the analyses uses “duration of breastfeeding” and “currently breastfeeding” variables to estimate the breastfeeding trends.
Figure 1: Place of residence and education
When compared to women in rural areas, women in urban areas are more likely to achieve higher levels of education. This is consistent with trends all over the world.
Figure 2: Age and breastfeeding
Older women who have more than four children are more likely to not be currently breastfeeding.
Figure 3: Education and breastfeeding
Women who have achieved higher levels of education (completed) are least likely to be currently breastfeeding.
Figure 4: Impact of both age and education on breastfeeding
Younger women who have some primary school education are more likely to be still breastfeeding and have breastfed their past children.
Figure 5: Marriage, work and breastfeeding
Despite the large number of “n/a”, data shows that women who are currently married are more likely to have ever breastfed and are still breastfeeding.
Women who report having a job BUT were on leave, were least likely to breastfeed, regardless of their current marital status.
Figure 6: Bodily autonomy, church and breastfeeding
Data shows that women who make health decisions with their husband (shared responsibility for body autonomy), were more likely to not be currently breastfeeding.
Note: The large number of NAs in this variable may be distorting the data.
Women who attended church ‘more than once a month’ are more likely to breastfeed when compared to those who did not attend church at all. However, women who attended church ‘more than once a month’ were also more likely to not be currently breastfeeding.
Conclusion
Initially the analysis set out to investigate potential factors that may impact a woman’s likelihood to breastfeed exclusively. Upon further exploration of the data, ‘exclusive breastfeeding’ could not be used as a metric for the data as no women qualified according to the standard definition of exclusive breastfeeding.
Using the currently breastfeeding and duration of breastfeeding variables, further analyses could be conducted to investigate potential trends in the data.
A few factors may impact a woman’s likelihood to be currently breastfeeding at the time of the survey and the length of time they breastfeed.
Women who attend church more than once a month, younger woemn with lower educational attainment are more likely to be currently breastfeeding.
Women who make health decisions with their husband, who have a job but are on leave, who are educated and older, who are older and have more children are least likely to be currently breastfeeding.
About Mozambique
The Republic of Mozambique is located in the southeast of the African Continent. It has more than 2,400 kilometers (~1,490 miles) of coastline overlooking the Indian ocean and shares a border with six countries: Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Eswatini.
With a population of more than 33 million, there is a lot of space in Mozambique. The country boasts several forest reserves, national parks, nature reserves, and frontier conservation areas with more than 200 mammal species that are endemic to the country.
Labels for variables used in project
Household factors: v024 = region, v025 = Type of place of residence (urban_rural)
Characteristics: v012 = Current age (women), v131 = Ethnicity, s106 = Highest educational level (women), v149 = Educational attainment (women), v463a = Frequency smokes cigarettes (women), s113a = How frequent go to church?
Birthing: v212 = Age at first birth, v201 = Number of children ever born
Marital status: v502 = Currently/formerly/never married, v505 = Number of co-wives, v501 = Current marital status (women)
Finances: s811 = Respondent’s occupation, v731 = Respondent worked in last 12 months (women), v743a = Person who should have greater say: respondent’s health care (women)
Breastfeeding: v409 = Gave child plain water, v409a = Gave child sugar water, v411 = Gave child tinned, powdered or fresh milk, v411a = Gave child baby formula, v414e = Gave child bread, noodles, other made from grains, v414f = Gave child potatoes, cassava, or other tubers, v414g = Gave child eggs, v414h = Gave child meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, etc), v404 = Currently breastfeeding, m4_1 = duration of breastfeeding, b11_01 = preceding birth intervals
References
- Definition for exclusive breastfeeding
- Photo of Mozambique by Dan Maisey on Unsplash