Multiple Impacts of Ethiopia's Health Extension Program on Adolescent Health and Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study 2002-2013

William E Rudgard; Silinganisiwe P Dzumbunu; Rachel Yates; Elona Toska; Heidi Stöckl; Lucas Hertzog; Dessalew Emaway; Lucie Cluver

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.04.010

Multiple Impacts of Ethiopia's Health Extension Program on Adolescent Health and Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study 2002-2013

J Adolesc Health. 2022 Sep;71(3):308-316. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.04.010. Epub 2022 Jun 10.

Authors

William E Rudgard¹, Silinganisiwe P Dzumbunu², Rachel Yates³, Elona Toska⁴, Heidi Stöckl⁵, Lucas Hertzog², Dessalew Emaway⁶, Lucie Cluver⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Electronic address: willrudgard@hotmail.co.uk.
² Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
³ Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁵ Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ The Last Ten Kilometers (L10K) Project, JSI Research & Training Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁷ Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

PMID: 35691851
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.04.010

Abstract

Purpose: Ethiopia has registered remarkable achievements in reaching global development goals, including reducing child marriage. Policymakers are keen to understand which investments have contributed to this. We evaluated the association between Ethiopia's Health Extension Program (HEP) and 12 adolescent health and wellbeing outcomes.

Methods: We used Young Lives Ethiopia cohort data between 2002 and 2013. We evaluated associations between household support from HEP at age 15 and 12 adolescent outcomes spread across health, gender-based violence, education, and employment at age 19 using the inverse probability of treatment weighting propensity score approach, stratifying by sex. Adjusted probability differences (APDs) and adjusted mean differences (AMDs) were used to contrast exposure to HEP versus no exposure.

Results: Of 775 adolescents with complete follow-up, 46% were female. Sixty-six percent of adolescents reported support from HEP, with higher rates of support in poorer, less educated, and rural households, particularly in Tigray Province. In boys, HEP was positively associated with education enrolment (APD: +20 percentage points [ppts], 95% confidence interval [CI]: +9 ppts, +31 ppts) and literacy (AMD: +6 ppts, 95% CI: +0.2, +11), and negatively associated with >4 hours in income-generating activities per day (APD: -19 ppts, 95% CI: -30 ppts, -9 ppts). In girls, HEP was positively associated with no child marriage (APD: +16 ppts, 95% CI: +4 ppts, +27 ppts), no adolescent pregnancy (APD: +17 ppts, 95% CI: +6 ppts, +28 ppts), education enrolment (APD: +27 ppts, 95% CI: +15 ppts, +39 ppts), literacy (AMD: +5 ppts, 95% CI: +0.2, +11), and numeracy (AMD: +8 ppts, 95% CI: +3; +13).

Discussion: Policies promoting HEP are likely to have supported improvements in multiple areas of adolescents' lives in Ethiopia.

Keywords: Adolescent; Adolescent pregnancy; Child marriage; Community health program; Education; Ethiopia; Health extension program; Sexual and reproductive health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Health*
Adult
Educational Status
Ethiopia
Female
Health Promotion
Humans
Male
Pregnancy
Rural Population*
Young Adult