Study: “35 Years Later: Effects of the Matlab Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Program on Women’s Economic Empowerment”
PI(s): Menken, Jane
Co-PI(s): Razzaque, Abdur
Affiliation(s): University of Colorado; International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b)
Institutional Partner(s): 2012 Joint RFP (PopDev)
Project Dates:
Start: 2012
End: 2015
Data Source(s): Matlab Panel Data
Geographic Location(s): Bangladesh

Description:
Despite the global spread of reproductive health and family planning programs, little is known about long-term and multigenerational effects on women’s economic and social empowerment. This study will show the effects of participating in the Matlab Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Program (MCH-FP) on the economic empowerment of women and their daughters over a 35-year period, which was initiated by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) in the rural Matlab area of Bangladesh in 1977. The icddr,b maternal and child health and family planning program was a quasi-randomized experiment that began in the treatment area in the late 1970’s, whereas the comparison area received only government services.

Research Outputs:

Barham, Tania, Kuhn, Randall, Menken, Jane & Razzaque, Abdur. (2016). Thirty-five years later: Evaluating the impacts of a child health and family planning programme in Bangladesh (39). International Initiative for Impact Evaluation Report.

Barham, Tania, Kuhn, Randall & Turner, Patrick. (2016). Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Interventions on Migration and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Quasi-Random Child Health and Family Planning Program in Bangladesh (Working Paper 516).