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The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Health and the Determinants of Fertility in Cameroon

Received: 28 March 2022    Accepted: 19 April 2022    Published: 10 May 2022
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Abstract

The World Fact Book ranked Cameroon at the 20th position with a fertility rate of 4.66 in 2020. UNSD Database (2020) gives the fertility rate of Cameroon as 5.4, 5.2 and 5.0 for 2005, 2010 and 2019 respectively. In the rank for the most obese countries, Cameroon was the 135th with an average BMI of 11.4 in 2016. In 2019, 11.4% of Cameroonians were obese with an average BMI of 24.4%. These figures show that years with higher fertility rates had lower levels of life expectancy and BMI. This is a possible indication of a direct link between fertility and health. This work was aimed at investigating the determinants of fertility and the effect of fertility on women’s health (BMI) in Cameroon. The expo-facto research design and pooled data from the 1991, 1998, 2004, 2011 and 2018 Cameroon DHS data sets were used. The total sample size stood at 50,131. The Instrumental Variable Probit Model, 2SLS Regression were used to analyze the data. Fertility had a positive and statistically significant effect on health. The use of contraceptives, knowledge on ovulation, age at first sex, age at first cohabitation, women’s employment, education, husband’s education, wealth level, religion and lifetime sex partners all had negative and statistically significant influence on women’s fertility. Age and region of origin had a positive and statistically significant influence on women’s fertility. Women’s educational level, husband’s education, skipping meals and religion all had positive and statistically significant influence women’s health. Age, husband’s occupation, lifetime sex partners, women’s employment, use of modern contraceptives, husband’s age, age at first birth, respondent’s occupation had a negative and statistically significantly influence on women’s health. The study recommended birth spacing for 2 years minimum to give the woman’s body time to lose weight naturally.

Published in International Journal of Health Economics and Policy (Volume 7, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14
Page(s) 36-45
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fertility, Health, BMI, Women, Determinants, Cameroon

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Kinga Bertila Mayin, Dobdinga Cletus Fonchamnyo, Fuein Vera Kum, Eyvonne Ngequih Tumasang. (2022). The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Health and the Determinants of Fertility in Cameroon. International Journal of Health Economics and Policy, 7(2), 36-45. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14

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    ACS Style

    Kinga Bertila Mayin; Dobdinga Cletus Fonchamnyo; Fuein Vera Kum; Eyvonne Ngequih Tumasang. The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Health and the Determinants of Fertility in Cameroon. Int. J. Health Econ. Policy 2022, 7(2), 36-45. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14

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    AMA Style

    Kinga Bertila Mayin, Dobdinga Cletus Fonchamnyo, Fuein Vera Kum, Eyvonne Ngequih Tumasang. The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Health and the Determinants of Fertility in Cameroon. Int J Health Econ Policy. 2022;7(2):36-45. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14,
      author = {Kinga Bertila Mayin and Dobdinga Cletus Fonchamnyo and Fuein Vera Kum and Eyvonne Ngequih Tumasang},
      title = {The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Health and the Determinants of Fertility in Cameroon},
      journal = {International Journal of Health Economics and Policy},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {36-45},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hep.20220702.14},
      abstract = {The World Fact Book ranked Cameroon at the 20th position with a fertility rate of 4.66 in 2020. UNSD Database (2020) gives the fertility rate of Cameroon as 5.4, 5.2 and 5.0 for 2005, 2010 and 2019 respectively. In the rank for the most obese countries, Cameroon was the 135th with an average BMI of 11.4 in 2016. In 2019, 11.4% of Cameroonians were obese with an average BMI of 24.4%. These figures show that years with higher fertility rates had lower levels of life expectancy and BMI. This is a possible indication of a direct link between fertility and health. This work was aimed at investigating the determinants of fertility and the effect of fertility on women’s health (BMI) in Cameroon. The expo-facto research design and pooled data from the 1991, 1998, 2004, 2011 and 2018 Cameroon DHS data sets were used. The total sample size stood at 50,131. The Instrumental Variable Probit Model, 2SLS Regression were used to analyze the data. Fertility had a positive and statistically significant effect on health. The use of contraceptives, knowledge on ovulation, age at first sex, age at first cohabitation, women’s employment, education, husband’s education, wealth level, religion and lifetime sex partners all had negative and statistically significant influence on women’s fertility. Age and region of origin had a positive and statistically significant influence on women’s fertility. Women’s educational level, husband’s education, skipping meals and religion all had positive and statistically significant influence women’s health. Age, husband’s occupation, lifetime sex partners, women’s employment, use of modern contraceptives, husband’s age, age at first birth, respondent’s occupation had a negative and statistically significantly influence on women’s health. The study recommended birth spacing for 2 years minimum to give the woman’s body time to lose weight naturally.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    T1  - The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Health and the Determinants of Fertility in Cameroon
    AU  - Kinga Bertila Mayin
    AU  - Dobdinga Cletus Fonchamnyo
    AU  - Fuein Vera Kum
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14
    T2  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    JF  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
    JO  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-9309
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20220702.14
    AB  - The World Fact Book ranked Cameroon at the 20th position with a fertility rate of 4.66 in 2020. UNSD Database (2020) gives the fertility rate of Cameroon as 5.4, 5.2 and 5.0 for 2005, 2010 and 2019 respectively. In the rank for the most obese countries, Cameroon was the 135th with an average BMI of 11.4 in 2016. In 2019, 11.4% of Cameroonians were obese with an average BMI of 24.4%. These figures show that years with higher fertility rates had lower levels of life expectancy and BMI. This is a possible indication of a direct link between fertility and health. This work was aimed at investigating the determinants of fertility and the effect of fertility on women’s health (BMI) in Cameroon. The expo-facto research design and pooled data from the 1991, 1998, 2004, 2011 and 2018 Cameroon DHS data sets were used. The total sample size stood at 50,131. The Instrumental Variable Probit Model, 2SLS Regression were used to analyze the data. Fertility had a positive and statistically significant effect on health. The use of contraceptives, knowledge on ovulation, age at first sex, age at first cohabitation, women’s employment, education, husband’s education, wealth level, religion and lifetime sex partners all had negative and statistically significant influence on women’s fertility. Age and region of origin had a positive and statistically significant influence on women’s fertility. Women’s educational level, husband’s education, skipping meals and religion all had positive and statistically significant influence women’s health. Age, husband’s occupation, lifetime sex partners, women’s employment, use of modern contraceptives, husband’s age, age at first birth, respondent’s occupation had a negative and statistically significantly influence on women’s health. The study recommended birth spacing for 2 years minimum to give the woman’s body time to lose weight naturally.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Health Economics and Policy Management, Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC), Bamenda, Cameroon

  • Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

  • Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

  • Department of Health Economics and Policy Management, Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC), Bamenda, Cameroon

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