Internal migration and household living conditions in Ethiopia

Using the 1998 Migration, Gender and Health Survey in Five Regions of Ethiopia, and multivariate regression techniques, this paper examines the relationship between internal migration and household living conditions. The analysis finds significant living condition advantage of permanent and temporary migrants over non-migrants. These advantages are primarily linked to migration selectivity by education and non-agricultural income. Once the independent effects of these variables are controlled, no statistical significant independent association exists between migration status and living conditions. Government policies of resettlement in the 1980s and ethnic federalism of the 1990s may have engendered stress migration and exacerbated poor living outcomes for return migrants. The resort to migration and/or resettlement as an individual or government policy response to periodic unfavorable conditions in places of origin is not strongly supported by this analysis as the key to improved living conditions. Promoting higher education and opportunities for employment outside the agricultural sector are more likely to yield improved living conditions in Ethiopia.Civil War, drought, famine, internal migration, living conditions, living conditions index, migration, resettlement, stress migration

Protection before the harm: The case of condom use at the onset of premarital

Condom protection has been linked to HIV decline, but the goal to prevent infections before any harm informs this focus on condom use at premarital sexual debut. The study builds on the proposition that condom use at first intercourse is an immediate indicator of the risks associated with the encounter and the propensity of subsequent condom use consistently and regularly. Data from the 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and binary logistic regression models were utilized to examine the predictors of condom use at premarital sexual debut among Nigerian youths aged 15-24. The analysis identified significant independent effects of age at sexual debut, living arrangements, level of education, and household economic status, with the strongest effect linked to ethnic origin. The findings underscore the complexity of socio-cultural contexts that influence sexual behavior across groups within one country, and the importance of a multi-factor policy perspective for effective behavior interventions

Risk perception for HIV/AIDS infection among premarital sexually initiated youth in Nigeria

This paper examines perception of risk of HIV/AIDS infection among 1,308 premarital sexually initiated youth aged 15-24, with data from the 1999 and 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys. Building on the importance of the behavioral approach in a successful effort to limit HIV/AIDS transmission and evidence that subjective perception of one’s own risk of infection is an important correlate of individual adoption of risk-reduction strategies, the study finds significant levels of discordance between risk perception and corresponding sexual behavior. The emanating challenge is identifying and understanding ways to accurately assess personalized and generalized risks, in order to achieve alignment of risk perception with actual sexual behavior. Following propositions that behavioral change in response to HIV/AIDS should in part be the consequence of a sense of personal vulnerability to infection, key interventions in Nigeria need to include an aggressive educational approach to address risk denial about HIV/AIDS emanating from misperceptions and rationalizations

Female genital mutilation/cutting in Nigeria: A scoping review

This report’s overarching objective is the examination of key trends in the evidence base of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) and gaps in knowledge for Nigeria, building on a scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature along with quantitative analysis of relevant data. What is clear from prevalence levels identified over the last 15 years is how widespread different types of FGM/C are, in Nigeria’s different ethno-geographical zones, and the little change that has taken place over time, despite increased international, and renewed national, political commitment to eradicate the practice. The findings show that much work remains to be conducted on the evaluation of FGM/C abandonment efforts, particularly the need for methodologically rigorous intervention evaluations. This review reveals that we need to collect data to understand FGM/C prevalence over time and identify contributing factors among regional cultures that will be necessary to inform specific future policy and program interventions. The need for strengthening monitoring and of interventions to establish what works and what does not work, together with investments in methodologically robust data collection and analysis will be important parts of the process for generating credible evidence to inform FGM/C policy and action

Capitalizing on Nigeria’s demographic dividend: reaping the benefits and diminishing the burdens

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous country in the world, yet there is a dearth of published research about its demography. As Nigeria enters a period of potentially rapid economic growth due to the increase in the working-age population, it is critical to understand the demographic trends in the country. This paper examines the age and sex composition of Nigeria as it relates to various population characteristics using the two most recent Demographic and Health Surveys for Nigeria (2003 and 2008), as well as some data from the 2006 Census. It also highlights Nigeria’s demographic composition and trends using United Nations population projection data, and its implications for the country reaping the demographic dividend. Finally, it draws some conclusions and makes some policy recommendations based on the findings

Birth spacing and child mortality: an analysis of prospective data from the Nairobi urban health and demographic surveillance system.

The majority of studies of the birth spacing-child survival relationship rely on retrospective data, which are vulnerable to errors that might bias results. The relationship is re-assessed using prospective data on 13,502 children born in two Nairobi slums between 2003 and 2009. Nearly 48% were first births. Among the remainder, short preceding intervals are common: 20% of second and higher order births were delivered within 24 months of an elder sibling, including 9% with a very short preceding interval of less than 18 months. After adjustment for potential confounders, the length of the preceding birth interval is a major determinant of infant and early childhood mortality. In infancy, a preceding birth interval of less than 18 months is associated with a two-fold increase in mortality risks (compared with lengthened intervals of 36 months or longer), while an interval of 18-23 months is associated with an increase of 18%. During the early childhood period, children born within 18 months of an elder sibling are more than twice as likely to die as those born after an interval of 36 months or more. Only 592 children experienced the birth of a younger sibling within 20 months; their second-year mortality was about twice as high as that of other children. These results support the findings based on retrospective data

Migration and sexual behaviour among youth in Nairobi’s slum areas

Migration remains an important event in the urbanization process. However, research evidence indicates that migration is associated with negative outcomes. For migrant youth, migration often coincides with leaving home and divesting of parental authority and controls. This study investigates migration as a determinant of risky sexual behaviours and the factors influencing the timing of first sex among migrant youth. We used data collected between 2006 and 2008 from youth aged 12-22 years living in two slums in Nairobi. We use Cox proportional hazards model for timing of first sex among migrants and logistic regression for determinants of risky sexual behaviour. Migration is important for number of sexual partners but not for sexual debut. The risk of initiating first sex soon after in-migration is higher for youth with problem behaviour. Among adolescents in Nairobi’s slums, migration is not associated with a higher risk of engaging in risky sexual behaviour. However, youth with problem behaviour face a higher risk of initiating sex soon after migration

Ethnic Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Formal Education in Nigeria

We study the causes of inequality in human capital accumulation across ethnic and religious groups. An overlapping generations model in which agents decide how much time to invest in human capital versus ethnic capital shows that the demand for human capital is affected positively by parental and group's older cohort human capital, and negatively by group size. Two ex-ante identical groups may diverge in human capital accumulation, with the divergence mostly occurring among their low-ability members. Furthermore, group and ethnic fragmentation increases the demand for human capital. We validate these predictions using household data from Nigeria where ethnicity and religion are the primary identity cleavages. We document persistent ethnic and religious inequality in educational attainment. Members of ethnic groups that historically converted to Christianity outperform those whose ancestors converted to Islam. Consistent with theory, there is little difference between the high-ability members of these groups, but low-ability members of historically Muslim groups choose Koranic education as an alternative to formal education, even when formal education is free. Moreover, more religiously fragmented ethnic groups fare better, and local ethnic fragmentation increases the demand for formal education. Our analysis sheds light on the political context that underlines the recent violent opposition to "western education" in the country

Migration Experience and Premarital Sexual Initiation in Urban Kenya: An Event History Analysis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91327/1/j.1728-4465.2012.00309.x.pd

Communitarianism, Oppositional Cultures, and Human Capital Contagion: Theory and Evidence from Formal versus Koranic Education

We analyze the implications of communitarianism-the tendency of people to organize into separate culturally homogeneous groups-for individual and group inequality in human capital accumulation. We propose a non-cooperative social interactions model where each individual decides how much time to invest in human capital versus ethnic capital, and his utility from investment in either form of capital is increasing in the investment of his ethnic group in that form of capital. We find that, in equilibrium, the demand for human capital is affected positively by individual and group ability, and negatively by group size. Moreover, two groups that are ex ante identical in ability distribution may diverge in human capital accumulation, with divergence only occurring among their low-ability members. The latter always coordinate on the same type of investment, showing a contagion or herding effect. Furthermore, we find that ethnic and group fragmentation increases the demand for human capital. We validate these predictions of the model using household data from a setting where ethnicity and religion are the primary identity cleavages. We document persistent ethnic and religious inequality in educational attainment. Members of ethnic groups that historically converted to Christianity fare better than those whose ancestors converted to Islam. Consistent with theory, there is little difference between the high-ability members of these groups, but low-ability members of historically Muslim groups choose Koranic education as an alternative to formal education. Also, the descendants of ethnic groups that were evenly exposed to both religions outperform those whose ancestors had contact with only one religion, and local ethnic fragmentation increases the demand for formal education