BACKGROUND Short birth intervals are independently associated with increased risk of adverse maternal, perinatal, infant and child outcomes. Anemia in children, which is highly prevalent in Africa, is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Birth spacing is advocated as a tool to reduce anemia in preschool African children, but the role of gender differences and contextual...

OBJECTIVES Demographically describing the present and future for Mexican children to correlate aspects regarding demographic and social equity during childhood and describing the challenges these variables represent for Mexican children during the next few years. METHODS The present and future scenario for Mexican childhood was evaluated using existing population projections. Mortality rates ...

Physical fighting is an important behavioral concern of public health importance among adolescents worldwide. The present study examines the patterns and correlates of physical fighting among a school-based population in a low-income country setting. Data on 6235 adolescents aged 11–16 years were derived from the Republic of Ghana contributions to the Global School-based Health Survey. Three th...

arriage customs in Bangladesh vary by region, complicating national-level efforts to eliminate some of the more harmful practices, such as early marriage and dowry demands, that undermine the status of women. Efforts to reform such a complex and multidimensional institution as marriage must consider economic concerns, social traditions, and social activism. Dowry demands—in addition to exacting...

This paper examines the underlying economic and socio-demographic determinants of child nutritional status in Egypt using data from the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey. The Height for Age Z-score (HAZ) is used as a measurement of child growth assessment. We contribute to the extant literature by using a quantile regression model to allow for a heterogeneous effect of each determinant along d...

OBJECTIVES To review the sexual behaviour data collected in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and other similar national surveys from the perspective of data quality. METHODS Two indicators of premarital and higher risk sexual behaviour were analysed for 31 surveys in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The analysis focused on the internal consistenc...