title: Wealth and under-nourishment among married women in two impoverished nations: evidence from Burkina Faso and Congo Democratic Republic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Burkina Faso (BF) and Congo Democratic Republic (CDR) are among the top-ten poverty and hunger stricken countries globally. The influence of poverty and hunger on health is enormous. The objectives of the study are to; examine the association between poverty and nutritional status, it also identified socio-demographic and health related mediating factors that contribute to the relationship between poverty and poor nutritional status. The study focused on married or cohabiting women aged 15-49 years and utilized 2010 and 2007 DHS dataset from BF and CDR respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age of the women in BF and CDR were 34.4 ± 9.3 and 34.7 ± 9.0 years respectively. About 19.4% and 18.4% of the poor were malnourished as against 7.7% and 9.7% of the rich women in BF and CDR respectively. Obesity and overweight were more prominent among the rich than the poor. Higher prevalence of under-nourish women was found among the older than the younger women in BF. In the countries, the prevalence of malnutrition was significantly higher among women; in the rural areas, with no formal education, anaemic and those who are not working. Multivariate analysis revealed that in the countries, the risk of under-nourishment was significantly higher among poor and middle class than the rich women despite controlling for confounding variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Undernourished women were more common among the poor and those with no formal education. Programs that target nutrition of women of reproductive age should be strengthened in BF and CDR.
authors.affiliation: Population Training and Research Unit, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng, South Africa. Adehamilt2008@yahoo.com.|Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. Adehamilt2008@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ayo Stephen
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Adebowale
authors.affiliation: Population Training and Research Unit, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, North-West University, Mafikeng, South Africa. mpalamuleni@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Martin Enoch
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Palamuleni
authors.affiliation: Department of Population studies and Demography, University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. ayoresearch2013@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Clifford Obby
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Odimegwu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D003223:Congo / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012923:Social Class; D000069602:Working Poor / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*