Demographic, socio-economic, and cultural factors affecting fertility differentials in Nepal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Traditionally Nepalese society favors high fertility. Children are a symbol of well-being both socially and economically. Although fertility has been decreasing in Nepal since 1981, it is still high compared to many other developing countries. This paper is an attempt to examine the demographic, socio-economic, and cultural factors for fertility differentials in Nepal.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper has used data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2006). The analysis is confined to ever married women of reproductive age (8,644). Both bivariate and multivariate analyses have been performed to describe the fertility differentials. The bivariate analysis (one-way ANOVA) was applied to examine the association between children ever born and women's demographic, socio-economic, and cultural characteristics. Besides bivariate analysis, the net effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable after controlling for the effect of other predictors has also been measured through multivariate analysis (multiple linear regressions).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean numbers of children ever born (CEB) among married Nepali women of reproductive age and among women aged 40-49 were three and five children, respectively. There are considerable differentials in the average number of children ever born according to women's demographic, socio-economic, and cultural settings. Regression analysis revealed that age at first marriage, perceived ideal number of children, place of residence, literacy status, religion, mass media exposure, use of family planning methods, household headship, and experience of child death were the most important variables that explained the variance in fertility. Women who considered a higher number of children as ideal (β = 0.03; p < 0.001), those who resided in rural areas (β = 0.02; p < 0.05), Muslim women (β = 0.07; p < 0.001), those who had ever used family planning methods (β = 0.08; p < 0.001), and those who had a child-death experience (β = 0.31; p < 0.001) were more likely to have a higher number of CEB compared to their counterparts. On the other hand, those who married at a later age (β = -0.15; p < 0.001), were literate (β = -0.05; p < 0.001), were exposed to both (radio/TV) mass media (β = -0.05; p < 0.001), were richest (β = -0.12; p < 0.001), and were from female-headed households (β = -0.02; p < 0.05) had a lower number of children ever born than their counterparts.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The average number of children ever born is high among women in Nepal. There are many contributing factors for the high fertility, among which are age at first marriage, perceived ideal number of children, literacy status, mass media exposure, wealth status, and child-death experience by mothers. All of these were strong predictors for CEB. It can be concluded that programs should aim to reduce fertility rates by focusing on these identified factors so that fertility as well as infant and maternal mortality and morbidity will be decreased and the overall well-being of the family maintained and enhanced.</p

Simulation of water and solute transport in field soils with the LEACHP model

LEACHP is a modular package for calculating the one-dimensional vertical water and solute flux in horizontally layered soils under transient conditions. Data from field studies conducted in a sandy soil (Vredepeel, The Netherlands) and in a loamy soil (Weiherbach, Germany) were used by five groups to simulate water flow and bromide and pesticide transport with the LEACHP model. Calibrated outputs were compared to the actual field values.Soil hydraulic properties derived from laboratory measurements performed best to predict soil moisture profiles of field soils. For small-scale lysimeters calibration was necessary to simulate drainage fluxes that were within the wide range of experimental values. These calibrated parameters failed to predict increased drainage volumes observed under additional irrigation. Measurement of all soil water balance terms would allow a more thorough evaluation of the hydraulic component of LEACHP.Bromide profiles were not well simulated on the sandy soil where considerable plant uptake was observed. Additionally, zones of immobile soil water might have been present. Residue profiles of the volatile pesticide ethoprophos in soil were best simulated by groups that accounted for volatilisation in their simulations. Different descriptions of the soil sorption process for the mobile pesticide bentazone between groups were dominated by different input of half-life values and hydraulic properties. Although bromide residue profiles were predicted reasonably well in the loamy soil, it was not possible to predict isoproturon dissipation during summer with degradation parameters calibrated in a winter simulation.Predictions of soil water content profiles and leaching volumes can be used with confidence especially after calibration given that preferential flow processes are not predominant. Although important input data for pesticide transformation and transport could be derived from extensive laboratory scale experiments, these did not represent all processes that could affect pesticide fate and behaviour under field conditions. Calibration did not significantly enhance the predictive capability of the solute transport simulations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved