The influence of male care givers on child health in rural Haiti.

This study examines the relationship between a woman's workload and the health of her pre-school children aged 24-59 months. The role of gender of alternate care givers when the woman is away from home is the specific focus of the research. Interviews were conducted with 106 women in rural Haiti, 44% of whom had malnourished children. Factors which significantly discriminated between normal and malnourished nutritional status were birth space between the index child and its next oldest sibling, number of children in the home, roof type (a proxy for socioeconomic status), and having a male substitute care giver. Further multivariate analysis produced a model which demonstrated that having a male care giver exacerbated the effect of birth space on nutrition status. Further research is necessary to determine characteristics of substitute care givers and their impact on nutritional status and child health in less developed countries. This is particularly important in light of the increased economic pressure on Third World rural women to work outside the home in order to meet the basic needs of their families.