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Female employment reduces fertility in rural Senegal.

ABSTRACT: Economic growth and modernization of society are generally associated with fertility rate decreases but which forces trigger this is unclear. In this paper we assess how fertility changes with increased labor market participation of women in rural Senegal. Evidence from high-income countries suggests that higher female employment rates lead to reduced fertility rates but evidence from developing countries at an early stage of demographic transition is largely absent. We concentrate on a rural area in northern Senegal where a recent boom in horticultural exports has been associated with a sudden increase in female off-farm employment. Using survey data we show that employed women have a significantly higher age at marriage and at first childbirth, and significantly fewer children. As causal identification strategy we use instrumental variable and difference-in-differences estimations, combined with propensity score matching. We find that female employment reduces the number of children per woman by 25%, and that this fertility-reducing effect is as large for poor as for non-poor women and larger for illiterate than for literate women. Results imply that female employment is a strong instrument for empowering rural women, reducing fertility rates and accelerating the demographic transition in poor countries. The effectiveness of family planning programs can increase if targeted to areas where female employment is increasing or to female employees directly because of a higher likelihood to reach women with low-fertility preferences. Our results show that changes in fertility preferences not necessarily result from a cultural evolution but can also be driven by sudden and individual changes in economic opportunities.

SUBMITTER: Van den Broeck G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4376695 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Female employment reduces fertility in rural Senegal.

Van den Broeck Goedele G Maertens Miet M

PloS one 20150327 3

Economic growth and modernization of society are generally associated with fertility rate decreases but which forces trigger this is unclear. In this paper we assess how fertility changes with increased labor market participation of women in rural Senegal. Evidence from high-income countries suggests that higher female employment rates lead to reduced fertility rates but evidence from developing countries at an early stage of demographic transition is largely absent. We concentrate on a rural ar ...[more]

PMID: 25816301

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Tropheryma whipplei is known as the cause of Whipple's disease, but it is also an emerging pathogen, detected in stool, that causes various chronic localized infections without histological digestive involvement and is associated with acute infections, including gastroenteritis and bacteremia. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a study in 2008 and 2009 using 497 non-diarrheic and diarrheic stool samples, 370 saliva samples, 454 sera samples and 105 samples obtained from water samples in two rural Sine-Saloum villages (Dielmo and Ndiop) in Senegal. The presence of T. whipplei was investigated by using specific quantitative PCR. Genotyping was performed on positive samples. A serological analysis by western blotting was performed to determine the seroprevalence and to detect seroconversion. Overall, T. whipplei was identified in 31.2% of the stool samples (139/446) and 3.5% of the saliva samples (13/370) obtained from healthy subjects. The carriage in the stool specimens was significantly (p<10(-3)) higher in children who were between 0 and 4 years old (60/80, 75%) compared to samples obtained from individuals who were between 5 to 10 years old (36/119, 30.2%) or between 11 and 99 years old (43/247, 17.4%). The carriage in the stool was also significantly more common (p = 0.015) in subjects with diarrhea (25/51, 49%). We identified 22 genotypes, 16 of which were new. Only one genotype (#53) was common to both villages. Among the specific genotypes, one (#52) was epidemic in Dielmo (15/28, 53.4%, p<10(-3)) and another (#49) in Ndiop (27.6%, p = 0.002). The overall seroprevalence was estimated at 72.8% (291/400). Seroconversion was detected in 66.7% (18/27) of children for whom PCR became positive in stools between 2008 and 2009. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: T. whipplei is a common bacterium in the Sine-Saloum area of rural Senegal that is contracted early in childhood. Epidemic genotypes suggest a human transmission of the bacterium.

Project description:Rickettsioses are one of the most important causes of systemic febrile illness among travelers from developed countries, but little is known about their incidence in indigenous populations, especially in West Africa. Overall seroprevalence evaluated by immunofluorescence using six rickettsial antigens (spotted fever and typhus group) in rural populations of two villages of the Sine-Saloum region of Senegal was found to be 21.4% and 51% for spotted fever group rickettsiae for Dielmo and Ndiop villages, respectively. We investigated the role of tick-borne rickettsiae as the cause of acute non-malarial febrile diseases in the same villages. The incidence of rickettsial DNA in 204 blood samples from 134 (62M and 72F) febrile patients negative for malaria was studied. DNA extracted from whole blood was tested by two qPCR systems. Rickettsial DNA was found in nine patients, eight with Rickettsia felis (separately reported). For the first time in West Africa, Rickettsia conorii was diagnosed in one patient. We also tested 2,767 Ixodid ticks collected in two regions of Senegal (Niakhar and Sine-Saloum) from domestic animals (cows, sheep, goats, donkeys and horses) by qPCR and identified five different pathogenic rickettsiae. We found the following: Rickettsia aeschlimannii in Hyalomma marginatum rufipes (51.3% and 44.8% in Niakhar and Sine-Saloum region, respectively), in Hyalomma truncatum (6% and 6.8%) and in Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi (0.5%, only in Niakhar); R. c. conorii in Rh. e. evertsi (0.4%, only in Sine-Saloum); Rickettsia massiliae in Rhipicephalus guilhoni (22.4%, only in Niakhar); Rickettsia sibirica mongolitimonae in Hyalomma truncatum (13.5%, only in Sine-Saloum); and Rickettsia africae in Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi (0.7% and 0.4% in Niakhar and Sine-Saloum region, respectively) as well as in Rhipicephalus annulatus (20%, only in Sine-Saloum). We isolated two rickettsial strains from H. truncatum: R. s. mongolitimonae and R. aeschlimannii. We believe that together with our previous data on the high prevalence of R. africae in Amblyomma ticks and R. felis infection in patients, the presented results on the distribution of pathogenic rickettsiae in ticks and the first R. conorii case in West Africa show that the rural population of Senegal is at risk for other tick-borne rickettsioses, which are significant causes of febrile disease in this area.

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Female employment reduces fertility in rural Senegal.

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Female employment reduces fertility in rural Senegal.

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