Holla, A.

Hoxha, I.

Janevic, T.

Stojanovski, K.

English

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Gender inequity in Kosovo and its relationship toprenatal careKristefer StojanovskiK Stojanovski1, T Janevic2, I Hoxha3, A Holla41Center for Regional Policy Research and Cooperation, Studiorum, Skopje,Macedonia2Department of Epidemiology, Rutgers University School of Public Health,Piscataway, NJ, USA3Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern,Switzerland4Human Development Network, The World Bank Group, Washington, DCUSAContact: kristefers@gmail.comIntroductionGender inequity is an issue in the Balkans and may contributeto poor maternal health outcomes. Our objective was toexamine differences in gender empowerment and prenatal careamong Romani, Ashkali, Egyptian (RAE), Serbian, andAlbanian women in Kosovo.MethodsWe surveyed n = 603 Romani, Serbian, and Albanian womenin Kosovo aged 16 to 45 who had given birth in the past twoyears, between November 2012 and February 2013 usingpurposeful snowball sampling. Log-binomial and multinomialregression models were computed to examine associationsbetween ethnicity, and empowerment; as well as to examinethe relationship between empowerment and adequate prenatal8th European Public Health Conference: Poster Displays 473care (4 or more visits) and the potential modifying effect ofethnicity on this relationship.ResultsIn preliminary analyses, 87% of all women were not involvedin the labour workforce. Sixty-six percent of all women werejointly involved in household resource decision making, 30%were excluded, and only 3% were sole decision-makers. Forty-two percent of women responded being sole healthcaredecision makers, 43% were jointly involved, and 15% wereexcluded. Only 18% of RAE women were sole healthcaredecision-makers, as compared to 44% in Albanian women, and64% in Serbian women; and 33% of RAE women were fullyexcluded from healthcare decisions (p-value = 0.000). RAE andAlbanian women had similar rates of exclusion from house-hold resource decisions, 39% and 44%, as compared to 10% inSerbian women (p-value = 0.000). Additionally, 19% of RAEwomen had less than four prenatal care visits, as compared toonly 5% in Albanian and 1% in Serbian women (p-value = 0.000).ConclusionPreliminary findings show that women of various ethnicgroups in Kosovo experience different levels of empowermentand prenatal care, with RAE women having worse outcomes.Additional analyses will further examine differences byethnicity and empowerment, and also assess how ethnicitymight modify the effect of empowerment on prenatal care.Key messages Disparities in prenatal care services exist among women inKosovo, with Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) womenhaving poorer outcomes Disparities in gender equity also exist and may exacerbatepoor reproductive health, particularly poorer prenatal careservice474 European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 25, Supplement 3, 2015

Gender inequity in Kosovo and its relationship to prenatal care: Kristefer Stojanovski

http://doc.rero.ch/record/289413/files/ckv176.267.pdf

Gender inequity in Kosovo and its relationship to prenatal care: Kristefer Stojanovski

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