Investigating the impacts of rainfall, armed conflict, and COVID-19 shocks on women ’s household decision-making among partnered women in Burkina Faso

In this study, we examined the distinct and overlapping associations between extreme events—growing season rainfall anomalies, armed conflict during the growing season, and COVID-19—and women’s daily decision-making power in Burkina Faso. We employed longitudinal survey data from I PUMS Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA), a complex and spatially referenced dataset. These data were collected from a population-representative sample of women of reproductive age (15–49 years) in Burkina Faso across two timepoints: 2019/2020 (December 2019–February 2020) and 2020/2021 (De cember 2020–March 2021). PMA data from Burkina Faso contain detailed questions on women’s sociodemographic characteristics, health, and household dynamics. We spatially linked these data with (1) external rainfall data, (2) armed conflict event data, and (3) PMA coronavirus-specific follow-up su rvey data (containing COVID-19 knowledge and prevention behaviors) collected in June and July of 2020. Using log-binomial general estimating equation (GEE) models, we examined the relationship between extreme events—wetter-than-usual growing season, armed conflict (that resulted in at least one de ath), and COVID-19—and increased daily decision-making power among women. We found strong and significant associations between experiencing a wetter-than-usual growing season (i.e., greater than 1 standard deviation above 10-year mean) and women being less likely to have increased daily decision-m aking p...
Source: Population and Environment - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research