Microcredit participation and women’s health: results from a cross-sectional study in Peru

International Journal for Equity in Health

Lia C. H. Fernald¹  Rita Hamad² 

[1] School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, 50 University Hall, Berkeley 94720, CA, USA;Division of General Medical Disciplines, Stanford University, 1070 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto 94304, CA, USA

关键词: Peru;    Latin America;    Socioeconomic determinants of health;    Women’s health;    Poverty alleviation;    Microcredit;   

Others  :  1222800
DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-015-0194-7

 received in 2015-02-05, accepted in 2015-07-21,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Introduction

Social and economic conditions are powerful determinants of women’s health status. Microcredit, which involves the provision of small loans to low-income women in the hopes of improving their living conditions, is an increasingly popular intervention to improve women’s socioeconomic status. Studies examining the health effects of microcredit programs have had mixed results.

Methods

We conduct a cross-sectional study among female clients of a non-profit microcredit program in Peru (N = 1,593). The predictor variable is length of microcredit participation. We conduct bivariate and multivariate linear regressions to examine the associations between length of microcredit participation and a variety of measures of women’s health. We control for participants’ sociodemographic characteristics.

Results

We find that longer participation is associated with decreased depressive symptoms, increased social support, and increased perceived control, but these differences are attenuated with the inclusion of covariates. We find no association between length of participation and contraception use, cancer screening, or self-reported days sick.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate a positive association between length of microcredit participation and measures of women’s psychological health, but not physical health. These findings contribute to the discussion on the potential of microcredit programs to address the socioeconomic determinants of health, and suggest that addressing socioeconomic status may be a key way to improve women’s health worldwide.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Hamad and Fernald.

【 图 表 】

Fig. 1.

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