Religious affiliation and under-five mortality in Mozambique.
Religious affiliation and under-five mortality in Mozambique.
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DOI：
10.1017/s0021932012000454
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发表时间：
2013-05
影响因子：
1.5
通讯作者：
Agadjanian V
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cau BM;Sevoyan A;Agadjanian V
在发达和发展中环境中，宗教对健康的影响仍然是一个相当有争议的主题。这项研究调查了母亲的宗教信仰与莫桑比克五岁以下儿童死亡率之间的联系。它使用在莫桑比克一个以基督教为主的地区收集的独特的回溯性调查数据，比较附属于有组织宗教的妇女的子女和非附属妇女的子女的五岁以下死亡率。它发现，与不加入任何宗教组织相比，母亲加入任何宗教组织对儿童的生存有重大的积极影响，这与教育和其他社会人口因素有关。当考察隶属于特定教派团体的影响时，只有隶属于天主教会或主流新教教会以及隶属于使徒教会与改善儿童存活率显著相关。有人认为，这些群体的优势可能是通过不同的机制实现的：母亲隶属于天主教会或主流新教教会对儿童生存的有利影响可能是由于这些教会与卫生部门更紧密的联系，而拥有使徒母亲的有利影响可能与使徒会众中牢固的社会关系和相互支持有关。因此，这些发现揭示了有组织的宗教可以通过多种途径影响撒哈拉以南非洲和类似发展中地区的儿童健康和生存。
The influence of religion on health remains a subject of considerable debate both in developed and developing settings. This study examines the connection between the religious affiliation of the mother and under-five mortality in Mozambique. It uses unique retrospective survey data collected in a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique to compare under-five mortality between children of women affiliated to organised religion and children of non-affiliated women. It finds that mother’s affiliation to any religious organisation, as compared to non-affiliation, has a significant positive effect on child survival net of education and other socio-demographic factors. When the effects of affiliation to specific denominational groups is examined, only affiliation to the Catholic or mainline Protestant churches and affiliation to Apostolic churches are significantly associated with improved child survival. It is argued that the advantages of these groups may be achieved through different mechanisms: the favourable effect on child survival of having mothers affiliated to the Catholic or mainline Protestant churches is likely due to these churches’ stronger connections to the health sector, while the beneficial effect of having an Apostolic mother is probably related to strong social ties and mutual support in Apostolic congregations. The findings thus shed light on multiple pathways through which organised religion can affect child health and survival in sub-Saharan Africa and similar developing settings.