Malnutrition among women in sub-Saharan Africa: rural-urban disparity.
BACKGROUND
Malnutrition is a serious public health problem, particularly in developing countries, linked to a substantial increase in the risk of mortality and morbidity. Women and young children are most often affected. Rural disadvantage is a known factor, but little attention has been paid to rural-urban disparity among women. To provide a reliable source of information for policy-makers, the current study used nationally representative data from 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to update knowledge about the prevalence malnutrition and its rural-urban disparities among women. The data sources were the demographic and health surveys of 26 countries conducted between 1995 and 2006.


METHODS
The methods included meta-analysis, meta-regression, sub-group and sensitivity.


RESULTS
Overall, rural women were 68% more likely to be malnourished compared with their urban counterparts. In the meta-regression analysis, sub-region, sample size, and the year the study was conducted explained the observed heterogeneity.


CONCLUSIONS
This meta-analysis provided usable data for women in sub-Saharan Africa. The magnitude of rural-urban malnutrition disparity revealed provides a baseline that will be of assistance to clinicians, researchers, and policy-makers in the detection, prevention and treatment of malnutrition among rural women.
Center for Evidence-Based Global Health, Ilorin, Nigeria. uthlekan@yahoo.com
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Uthman
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Aremu
D017954:Africa South of the Sahara / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health; D014504:Urban Health