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Papers by Dina Armanious

Research paper thumbnail of Applying the structural equation model approach to study the simultaneous relationship between women’s empowerment and mental disorder in Egypt

BMC Women's Health, Jan 5, 2024

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether women's empowerment and mental disor... more Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether women's empowerment and mental disorder affect each other in a one-way or two-way simultaneous relationship. Accordingly, the study fills a gap in the literature since it is the first attempt to examine the simultaneous relationship between women's empowerment and mental disorder in Egypt. To achieve this, the study aims to examine the most important dimensions of women's empowerment and mental disorder that affect each other simultaneously, and the most important determinants affecting women's empowerment and mental disorder. Design/methodology/approach The study depends on the cross-sectional data from the "Survey of Young People in Egypt" implemented in 2014. Married women aged 14-35 are included in the analysis (N = 3052). Recursive and nonrecursive structural equation models are used to examine the simultaneous relationship between women's empowerment and mental disorder using AMOS, which stands for Analysis of Moment Structures (Version 22). Results Women's education has a positive significant impact on women's empowerment and mental health. Violence has a positive significant impact on mental disorder, while it has a negative impact on women's empowerment. Sexual harassment has a negative impact on treatment with spouse dimension. Regarding the oneway relationship, the results show that the more empowered the woman, the better her mental health is. Considering the two-way simultaneous relationship, the findings show that there is a partial two-way simultaneous relationship. Conclusion There is a relationship between women's empowerment and mental health, indicating that they affect each other simultaneously. Awareness of the importance of psychological counselling and treatment for mental disorders in women is needed.

Research paper thumbnail of Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women’s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

BioMed Research International, 2014

Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, ... more Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women’s empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Two model specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. The findings show that women’s empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined and the recursive bivariate probit is a better approximation to the relationship between the...

Research paper thumbnail of Multidimensional Poverty in Morocco

Research paper thumbnail of Multidimensional Poverty in Yemen

Research paper thumbnail of Asia ( ESCWA ) Country Background Paper Multidimensional Poverty in Tunisia

Note: This document has been reproduced in the form in which it was received, without formal edit... more Note: This document has been reproduced in the form in which it was received, without formal editing. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ESCWA.

Research paper thumbnail of Multidimensional Poverty in Jordan

Research paper thumbnail of Measuring Happiness Among Egypt’s Youth

The World Economy, 2020

This article aims to assess happiness among young people aged 18–29 years in 2009 and 2014, usi... more This article aims to assess happiness among young people aged 18–29 years in 2009 and 2014, using a multidimensional Happiness Index among Youth (HIY), based on the Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE). Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis are applied to examine the robustness and efficiency of the index. A multinomial model is used to study the main determinants of happiness among young people. The main results of the study are that young men are happier than young women. The educational level of the head of household has a positive, significant effect on happiness.

Research paper thumbnail of MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX FOR MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES Findings from Jordan, Iraq, and Morocco

Research paper thumbnail of Country Background Paper Multidimensional Poverty in Egypt

Research paper thumbnail of Accelerating global actions for a world without poverty: Egypt Experiences

After years of slow growth after Egyptian revolution in 2011, the Egyptian economy has started to... more After years of slow growth after Egyptian revolution in 2011, the Egyptian economy has started to recover in 2014/2015 and growth rates have exceeded 5% since the year 2017/2018. However, results of Egyptian Household income, Expenditure and consumption survey (HIECS, 2017/2018) showed continued increase in poverty rates that jumped from 27.5% in 2015 to 32.5% in 2018. Thus the objective of this paper is to explain the increase in poverty rates in light of increase in Growth rates and declining unemployment rates. Additionally, to present the policies to be followed in order to ensure poverty rates decline in response to the continuous efforts in Egypt. Results of the study show that 32.5% of people in Egypt are poor in 2018 (32 million people) and there is a steady increase in Income Poverty Rates from 1999 to 2018. Higher Increase in Prices led to mask any increase in income between the end of 2015 and mid-2018, which results a decline in the real income and increase in poverty. A...

Research paper thumbnail of Poverty , Growth and Inequality in Some Arab Countries

Research paper thumbnail of The Relationship between Women ' s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care in Egypt

Antenatal health care utilization is very important not only for mothers but also for babies beca... more Antenatal health care utilization is very important not only for mothers but also for babies because it is leading to reduce maternal and child mortality. Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care are considered to be the root causes of their illhealth and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined. The Recursive Bivariate Probit model is used to achieve this goal. Factor analysis technique is used to construct availability and quality of health services indicators. The recursive bivariate probit estimates show that women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined. Additionally, women's empowerment has a significant and positive impact on receiving regular antenatal care. This finding confirms that women's empowerment is crucial...

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of the Changes in Women’s Characteristics over Time on Antenatal Health Care Utilization in Egypt (2000-2008)

Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015

Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics,... more Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics, empowerment, availability and quality of health services on woman's decision to use antenatal care (ANC) and the frequency of that use during the period 2000-2008. Study Design: The study is a cross-sectional analytical study using 2000 and 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys. Methods: The assessment of the studied impact is conducted using the Zero-inflated Negative Binomial Regression. In addition, Factor Analysis technique is used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as women's empowerment, the availability and quality of health services indicators. Results: Utilization of antenatal health care services is greatly improved from 2000 to 2008. Availability of health services is one of the main determinants that affect the number of antenatal care visits in 2008. Wealth index and quality of health services play an important role in raising the level of antenatal care utilization in 2000 and 2008. However, the impact of the terminated pregnancy on receiving ANC increased over time. Conclusions: Further research of the determinants of antenatal health care utilization is needed, using more updated measures of women's empowerment, availability and quality of health services. In order to improve the provision of antenatal health care services, it is important to understand barriers to antenatal health care utilization. Therefore, it is advisable to collect information from women about the reasons for not receiving antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of Research Article Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women’s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided t... more License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children.Themain purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women’s empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Twomodel specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. Thefindings show thatwomen’s empowerment and receiving regular antenatal...

Research paper thumbnail of Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women's Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

BioMed Research International

Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, ... more Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women's empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Two model specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. The findings show that women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined and the recursive bivariate probit is a better approximation to the relationship between them. Women's empowerment has significant and positive impact on receiving regular antenatal care. The availability and quality of health services do significantly increase the likelihood of receiving regular antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of Determinants of Antenatal Health Care Utilization in Egypt (2000-2014) Using Binary and Count Outcomes

Health

Aim: This study seeks to investigate the factors determining the utilization of antenatal care se... more Aim: This study seeks to investigate the factors determining the utilization of antenatal care services, the frequency of that use, and the timing of receiving antenatal care among Egyptian women utilizing a national representative data from Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS) in 2000 and 2014. Methods: The paper estimates the logistic regression model, zero-inflated negative binomial model (ZINB), and negative binomial regression model (NB) to identify the most important determinants of antenatal health care utilization. Results: The findings indicate that the period 2000-2014 has experienced a significant increase in the use of antenatal health care services. The use of the public sector antenatal care services relative to that of the private sector has been decreasing over time. Moreover, wealth index, women's education and quality of health services play significant roles in increasing accessibility of antenatal health care services. On the other hand, women's empowerment has shown a positive effect in 2000 only. Conclusion: The study highlights the most vulnerable groups that are less likely to have access to antenatal health care services, mainly women who are less educated, poor and living in rural areas especially Upper Egypt. This certainly requires a more targeted health strategy with an equity lens.

Research paper thumbnail of Tackling Egypt’s Rising Food Insecurity in a Time of Transition

Research paper thumbnail of Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women’s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

BioMed Research International, 2014

Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, ... more Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women's empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Two model specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. The findings show that women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined and the recursive bivariate probit is a better approximation to the relationship between them. Women's empowerment has significant and positive impact on receiving regular antenatal care. The availability and quality of health services do significantly increase the likelihood of receiving regular antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of the Changes in Women’s Characteristics over Time on Antenatal Health Care Utilization in Egypt (2000-2008)

Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015

Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics,... more Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics, empowerment, availability and quality of health services on woman's decision to use antenatal care (ANC) and the frequency of that use during the period 2000-2008. Study Design: The study is a cross-sectional analytical study using 2000 and 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys. Methods: The assessment of the studied impact is conducted using the Zero-inflated Negative Binomial Regression. In addition, Factor Analysis technique is used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as women's empowerment, the availability and quality of health services indicators. Results: Utilization of antenatal health care services is greatly improved from 2000 to 2008. Availability of health services is one of the main determinants that affect the number of antenatal care visits in 2008. Wealth index and quality of health services play an important role in raising the level of antenatal care utilization in 2000 and 2008. However, the impact of the terminated pregnancy on receiving ANC increased over time. Conclusions: Further research of the determinants of antenatal health care utilization is needed, using more updated measures of women's empowerment, availability and quality of health services. In order to improve the provision of antenatal health care services, it is important to understand barriers to antenatal health care utilization. Therefore, it is advisable to collect information from women about the reasons for not receiving antenatal care.

Conference Presentations by Dina Armanious

Research paper thumbnail of The Impact of Inflation on Poverty, Food & Nutrition Security

The Impact of Inflation on Poverty, Food & Nutrition Security, 2023

The presentation demonstrates results of a report on “the impact of inflation on food security in... more The presentation demonstrates results of a report on “the impact of inflation on food security in Egypt”. The report is motivated by the need for proactive policy responses to cushion impacts of the Ukraine global emergency and build resilience to future shocks in Egypt. The severity of the effects depend on how long the crisis lasts, and on how the government and the international community reacts about stimulus package (amounts, distribution, and duration) to relief vulnerable groups and fiscal and monetary policies to combat inflation.
The objective of this report is to provide an analysis on impacts of different inflation scenarios on food security, nutrition, poverty, specifically child poverty as well as health and education.
More specifically the analysis will:
 Provide quality and up-to-date evidence and data on the impact of the crisis on people in Egypt, with a focus on food security and nutrition, especially for children and disaggregated by gender of the head as well as on child poverty including refugees.
 Assess the impact of government newly launched stimulus packages on child poverty and food security.
 Measure the amounts of social assistance needed to mitigate the negative economic implications of inflation.

Research paper thumbnail of Applying the structural equation model approach to study the simultaneous relationship between women’s empowerment and mental disorder in Egypt

BMC Women's Health, Jan 5, 2024

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether women's empowerment and mental disor... more Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether women's empowerment and mental disorder affect each other in a one-way or two-way simultaneous relationship. Accordingly, the study fills a gap in the literature since it is the first attempt to examine the simultaneous relationship between women's empowerment and mental disorder in Egypt. To achieve this, the study aims to examine the most important dimensions of women's empowerment and mental disorder that affect each other simultaneously, and the most important determinants affecting women's empowerment and mental disorder. Design/methodology/approach The study depends on the cross-sectional data from the "Survey of Young People in Egypt" implemented in 2014. Married women aged 14-35 are included in the analysis (N = 3052). Recursive and nonrecursive structural equation models are used to examine the simultaneous relationship between women's empowerment and mental disorder using AMOS, which stands for Analysis of Moment Structures (Version 22). Results Women's education has a positive significant impact on women's empowerment and mental health. Violence has a positive significant impact on mental disorder, while it has a negative impact on women's empowerment. Sexual harassment has a negative impact on treatment with spouse dimension. Regarding the oneway relationship, the results show that the more empowered the woman, the better her mental health is. Considering the two-way simultaneous relationship, the findings show that there is a partial two-way simultaneous relationship. Conclusion There is a relationship between women's empowerment and mental health, indicating that they affect each other simultaneously. Awareness of the importance of psychological counselling and treatment for mental disorders in women is needed.

Research paper thumbnail of Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women’s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

BioMed Research International, 2014

Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, ... more Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women’s empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Two model specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. The findings show that women’s empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined and the recursive bivariate probit is a better approximation to the relationship between the...

Research paper thumbnail of Multidimensional Poverty in Morocco

Research paper thumbnail of Multidimensional Poverty in Yemen

Research paper thumbnail of Asia ( ESCWA ) Country Background Paper Multidimensional Poverty in Tunisia

Note: This document has been reproduced in the form in which it was received, without formal edit... more Note: This document has been reproduced in the form in which it was received, without formal editing. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ESCWA.

Research paper thumbnail of Multidimensional Poverty in Jordan

Research paper thumbnail of Measuring Happiness Among Egypt’s Youth

The World Economy, 2020

This article aims to assess happiness among young people aged 18–29 years in 2009 and 2014, usi... more This article aims to assess happiness among young people aged 18–29 years in 2009 and 2014, using a multidimensional Happiness Index among Youth (HIY), based on the Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE). Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis are applied to examine the robustness and efficiency of the index. A multinomial model is used to study the main determinants of happiness among young people. The main results of the study are that young men are happier than young women. The educational level of the head of household has a positive, significant effect on happiness.

Research paper thumbnail of MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX FOR MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES Findings from Jordan, Iraq, and Morocco

Research paper thumbnail of Country Background Paper Multidimensional Poverty in Egypt

Research paper thumbnail of Accelerating global actions for a world without poverty: Egypt Experiences

After years of slow growth after Egyptian revolution in 2011, the Egyptian economy has started to... more After years of slow growth after Egyptian revolution in 2011, the Egyptian economy has started to recover in 2014/2015 and growth rates have exceeded 5% since the year 2017/2018. However, results of Egyptian Household income, Expenditure and consumption survey (HIECS, 2017/2018) showed continued increase in poverty rates that jumped from 27.5% in 2015 to 32.5% in 2018. Thus the objective of this paper is to explain the increase in poverty rates in light of increase in Growth rates and declining unemployment rates. Additionally, to present the policies to be followed in order to ensure poverty rates decline in response to the continuous efforts in Egypt. Results of the study show that 32.5% of people in Egypt are poor in 2018 (32 million people) and there is a steady increase in Income Poverty Rates from 1999 to 2018. Higher Increase in Prices led to mask any increase in income between the end of 2015 and mid-2018, which results a decline in the real income and increase in poverty. A...

Research paper thumbnail of Poverty , Growth and Inequality in Some Arab Countries

Research paper thumbnail of The Relationship between Women ' s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care in Egypt

Antenatal health care utilization is very important not only for mothers but also for babies beca... more Antenatal health care utilization is very important not only for mothers but also for babies because it is leading to reduce maternal and child mortality. Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care are considered to be the root causes of their illhealth and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine whether women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined. The Recursive Bivariate Probit model is used to achieve this goal. Factor analysis technique is used to construct availability and quality of health services indicators. The recursive bivariate probit estimates show that women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined. Additionally, women's empowerment has a significant and positive impact on receiving regular antenatal care. This finding confirms that women's empowerment is crucial...

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of the Changes in Women’s Characteristics over Time on Antenatal Health Care Utilization in Egypt (2000-2008)

Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015

Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics,... more Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics, empowerment, availability and quality of health services on woman's decision to use antenatal care (ANC) and the frequency of that use during the period 2000-2008. Study Design: The study is a cross-sectional analytical study using 2000 and 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys. Methods: The assessment of the studied impact is conducted using the Zero-inflated Negative Binomial Regression. In addition, Factor Analysis technique is used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as women's empowerment, the availability and quality of health services indicators. Results: Utilization of antenatal health care services is greatly improved from 2000 to 2008. Availability of health services is one of the main determinants that affect the number of antenatal care visits in 2008. Wealth index and quality of health services play an important role in raising the level of antenatal care utilization in 2000 and 2008. However, the impact of the terminated pregnancy on receiving ANC increased over time. Conclusions: Further research of the determinants of antenatal health care utilization is needed, using more updated measures of women's empowerment, availability and quality of health services. In order to improve the provision of antenatal health care services, it is important to understand barriers to antenatal health care utilization. Therefore, it is advisable to collect information from women about the reasons for not receiving antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of Research Article Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women’s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided t... more License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Women’s relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children.Themain purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women’s empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Twomodel specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. Thefindings show thatwomen’s empowerment and receiving regular antenatal...

Research paper thumbnail of Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women's Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

BioMed Research International

Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, ... more Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women's empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Two model specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. The findings show that women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined and the recursive bivariate probit is a better approximation to the relationship between them. Women's empowerment has significant and positive impact on receiving regular antenatal care. The availability and quality of health services do significantly increase the likelihood of receiving regular antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of Determinants of Antenatal Health Care Utilization in Egypt (2000-2014) Using Binary and Count Outcomes

Health

Aim: This study seeks to investigate the factors determining the utilization of antenatal care se... more Aim: This study seeks to investigate the factors determining the utilization of antenatal care services, the frequency of that use, and the timing of receiving antenatal care among Egyptian women utilizing a national representative data from Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS) in 2000 and 2014. Methods: The paper estimates the logistic regression model, zero-inflated negative binomial model (ZINB), and negative binomial regression model (NB) to identify the most important determinants of antenatal health care utilization. Results: The findings indicate that the period 2000-2014 has experienced a significant increase in the use of antenatal health care services. The use of the public sector antenatal care services relative to that of the private sector has been decreasing over time. Moreover, wealth index, women's education and quality of health services play significant roles in increasing accessibility of antenatal health care services. On the other hand, women's empowerment has shown a positive effect in 2000 only. Conclusion: The study highlights the most vulnerable groups that are less likely to have access to antenatal health care services, mainly women who are less educated, poor and living in rural areas especially Upper Egypt. This certainly requires a more targeted health strategy with an equity lens.

Research paper thumbnail of Tackling Egypt’s Rising Food Insecurity in a Time of Transition

Research paper thumbnail of Testing for the Endogenous Nature between Women’s Empowerment and Antenatal Health Care Utilization: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in Egypt

BioMed Research International, 2014

Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, ... more Women's relative lack of decision-making power and their unequal access to employment, finances, education, basic health care, and other resources are considered to be the root causes of their ill-health and that of their children. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the interactive relation between women's empowerment and the use of maternal health care. Two model specifications are tested. One assumes no correlation between empowerment and antenatal care while the second specification allows for correlation. Both the univariate and the recursive bivariate probit models are tested. The data used in this study is EDHS 2008. Factor Analysis Technique is also used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as the availability and quality of health services indicators. The findings show that women's empowerment and receiving regular antenatal care are simultaneously determined and the recursive bivariate probit is a better approximation to the relationship between them. Women's empowerment has significant and positive impact on receiving regular antenatal care. The availability and quality of health services do significantly increase the likelihood of receiving regular antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of Impact of the Changes in Women’s Characteristics over Time on Antenatal Health Care Utilization in Egypt (2000-2008)

Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015

Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics,... more Objectives: This study empirically assesses the impact of the changes in women's characteristics, empowerment, availability and quality of health services on woman's decision to use antenatal care (ANC) and the frequency of that use during the period 2000-2008. Study Design: The study is a cross-sectional analytical study using 2000 and 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys. Methods: The assessment of the studied impact is conducted using the Zero-inflated Negative Binomial Regression. In addition, Factor Analysis technique is used to construct some of the explanatory variables such as women's empowerment, the availability and quality of health services indicators. Results: Utilization of antenatal health care services is greatly improved from 2000 to 2008. Availability of health services is one of the main determinants that affect the number of antenatal care visits in 2008. Wealth index and quality of health services play an important role in raising the level of antenatal care utilization in 2000 and 2008. However, the impact of the terminated pregnancy on receiving ANC increased over time. Conclusions: Further research of the determinants of antenatal health care utilization is needed, using more updated measures of women's empowerment, availability and quality of health services. In order to improve the provision of antenatal health care services, it is important to understand barriers to antenatal health care utilization. Therefore, it is advisable to collect information from women about the reasons for not receiving antenatal care.

Research paper thumbnail of The Impact of Inflation on Poverty, Food & Nutrition Security

The Impact of Inflation on Poverty, Food & Nutrition Security, 2023

The presentation demonstrates results of a report on “the impact of inflation on food security in... more The presentation demonstrates results of a report on “the impact of inflation on food security in Egypt”. The report is motivated by the need for proactive policy responses to cushion impacts of the Ukraine global emergency and build resilience to future shocks in Egypt. The severity of the effects depend on how long the crisis lasts, and on how the government and the international community reacts about stimulus package (amounts, distribution, and duration) to relief vulnerable groups and fiscal and monetary policies to combat inflation.
The objective of this report is to provide an analysis on impacts of different inflation scenarios on food security, nutrition, poverty, specifically child poverty as well as health and education.
More specifically the analysis will:
 Provide quality and up-to-date evidence and data on the impact of the crisis on people in Egypt, with a focus on food security and nutrition, especially for children and disaggregated by gender of the head as well as on child poverty including refugees.
 Assess the impact of government newly launched stimulus packages on child poverty and food security.
 Measure the amounts of social assistance needed to mitigate the negative economic implications of inflation.