Harmful gender norms, unbalanced distribution of power, and restricted decision-making for women are persistent in many settings and could decrease the probability of a child to be vaccinated.  To investigate the role of women’s social independence on child immunization we analysed data data from 52 low- and middle-income countries. We looked at children who received three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis containing vaccine (DPT3). We found that, in general, children of mothers with higher social independence presented higher DPT3 coverage. For 58% of countries, the difference in DTP3 coverage reached 10 percentage points when we compared children from mothers with the lowest and the highest social independence levels. Our findings highlight the relevance of social independence for women and the possible benefits on child immunization. Strategies to increase women’s empowerment could lead to advantages for children and public health in general.

Link to access the full text: Vaccines