We begin a new volume of Health Care for Women International being reminded that regardless of where in the world one resides, money matters. We recognize that wealth and health are correlated. I was thus not surprised to learn from Saha et al., whose research concerns women in Bangladesh—and from Fagbamigbe and Idemudia, whose data were from informants in Nigeria—that control of economic resources is related to access to antenatal care. Less wealth yields less access. Mothers’ access to antenatal care is also subsequently related to birthing healthy babies and to many other health indicators.
In Kenya, the relationship between wealth and single motherhood is complicated. Muthuri and colleagues assume that single motherhood is associated with less knowledge of reproductive health, but what is most interesting is the interaction between the examined economic variables. The authors note that being employed is related to single motherhood status, but so too is low household income. Muthuri and colleagues that suggest single mothers may work just to survive, perhaps accepting low compensation to attain at least a meager income. Accepting such income may yield some autonomy for these mothers, although limited income affects quality of life for them as well.
In a more developed country such as Japan, Niu and Yoshida also suggest that the correlation between wealth and health may have something to do with the autonomy that wealth may bring. They suggest that the greater the responsibility women hold for family budgeting, the more positive is their subjective health. One might also hypothesize that when women control family budgets, the health of all family members is optimized, as women are more likely than men to decide to seek help regarding the health of all family members.
November 28, 2016