IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0290919.html

How do household living conditions and gender-related decision-making influence child stunting in Rwanda? A population-based study

Author

Listed:
  • Jean Nepo Utumatwishima
  • Ingrid Mogren
  • Aline Umubyeyi
  • Ali Mansourian
  • Gunilla Krantz

Abstract

Child stunting (chronic undernutrition) is a major public health concern in low- and middle-income countries. In Rwanda, an estimated 33% of children are affected. This study investigated the household living conditions and the impact of gender-related decision-making on child stunting. The findings contribute to ongoing discussion on this critical public health issue. In December 2021, a population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Rwanda’s Northern Province; 601 women with children aged 1–36 months were included. Stunting was assessed using low height-for-age criteria. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was used to determine household socioeconomic status. Researcher-designed questionnaires evaluated gender-related factors such as social support and household decision-making. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified risk factor patterns. Six hundred and one children were included in the study; 27.1% (n = 163) were diagnosed as stunted; there was a higher prevalence of stunting in boys (60.1%) than girls (39.9%; p

Suggested Citation

  • Jean Nepo Utumatwishima & Ingrid Mogren & Aline Umubyeyi & Ali Mansourian & Gunilla Krantz, 2024. "How do household living conditions and gender-related decision-making influence child stunting in Rwanda? A population-based study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(3), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0290919
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290919
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290919
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290919&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0290919?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 476-487, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad Nabi Ahmadi & Jahangir Yadollahi Farsi & Taraneh Farokhmanesh & Ali Davari, 2026. "Navigating Innovation: Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Decision‐Making Logics in Platform‐Based Firms," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 1532-1555, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    2. Xuming He & Heng Xi & Xianbo Li, 2024. "Multi-Dimensional Decomposition, Measurement, and Governance Mechanism of Relative Poverty in Chinese Households under the Goal of Common Prosperity: Empirical Analysis Based on CFPS2020 Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-24, June.
    3. Decerf, Benoit & Ferrando, Mery & Menyhert, Balint, 2026. "Multidimensional Poverty : Why Not Make Up the Missing Joint Distribution Data ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11348, The World Bank.
    4. Melissa SIEGEL & Jennifer WAIDLER, 2012. "Migration and multi-dimensional poverty in Moldovan communities," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 3, pages 105-119, December.
    5. Koomson, Isaac & Churchill, Sefa Awaworyi & Smyth, Russell, 2025. "Financial literacy and clean energy adoption in South Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Merz, Joachim & Rathjen, Tim, 2011. "Intensity of Time and Income Interdependent Multidimensional Poverty: Well-Being and Minimum 2DGAP – German Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 6022, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Channing Arndt & Azhar M. Hussain & Vincenzo Salvucci & Finn Tarp & Lars Peter Østerdal, 2016. "Poverty Mapping Based on First‐Order Dominance with an Example from Mozambique," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 3-21, January.
    8. Abre-Rehmat Qurat-ul-Ann & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2021. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty in Pakistan: Empirical Evidence from Household Level Micro Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 211-258, May.
    9. Schimanski,Caroline & Azad,Mohammad Abul Kalam-1228442, 2023. "Poorer than Adults and Deprived in Almost All Counts : Welfare Status of Children in Nigeria," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10334, The World Bank.
    10. Aristondo, Oihana & Onaindia, Eneritz, 2018. "Inequality of energy poverty between groups in Spain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 431-442.
    11. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    12. Janina Isabel Steinert & Lucie Dale Cluver & G. J. Melendez-Torres & Sebastian Vollmer, 2018. "One Size Fits All? The Validity of a Composite Poverty Index Across Urban and Rural Households in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 51-72, February.
    13. Lisa Hoeschle & Shuang Liu & Xiaohua Yu, 2025. "Let the Poor Talk About “Poverty”: Revisiting Poverty Alleviation in Rural China With Machine Learning," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), June.
    14. Devika J & Brinda Viswanathan & K. S. Kavikumar, 2026. "Multidimensional Poverty Indices: A State Level Analysis for India," Working Papers 2026-305, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    15. Romel Ramón González-Díaz & Ángel Acevedo-Duque & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda & Dante Castillo, 2021. "Contributions of Subjective Well-Being and Good Living to the Contemporary Development of the Notion of Sustainable Human Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Tavares, Fernando Flores & Betti, Gianni, 2021. "The pandemic of poverty, vulnerability, and COVID-19: Evidence from a fuzzy multidimensional analysis of deprivations in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Du Hongyu, 2025. "Advantages of regional development—A study on poverty alleviation in contiguous destitute areas," International Studies of Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 344-370, September.
    18. Sugata Bag & Suman Seth, 2016. "Understanding Standard of Living and Correlates in Slums - An Analysis Using Monetary Versus Multidimensional Approaches in Three Indian Cities," Working papers 263, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    19. Andrew E. Clark & Conchita D'Ambrosio, 2017. "Living conditions and well-being: Evidence from African countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-209, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Gaurav Datt, 2019. "Multidimensional poverty in the Philippines, 2004–2013: How much do choices for weighting, identification and aggregation matter?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1103-1128, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0290919. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.