Health implications of household multidimensional energy poverty for women: A structural equation modeling technique

The twofold novelty of the paper complements the debate about the health impacts of multidimensional energy poverty. First, an adjusted multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI) is employed to gauge and monitor multidimensional energy poverty. Second, the study targets South and Southeast Asia, the regions previously neglected, to identify the adverse health impacts of multidimensional energy poverty for women using the structural equation modeling technique. With these objectives, the study analyses household survey data of eleven developing countries in Asia: five countries from South Asia and six from Southeast Asia. The results statistically verified the fitness of the study model checking the estimates of good fitness of the structural equation modeling approach. An empirically significant negative causal relationship was found between the indicators of multidimensional energy poverty and health for women including sources and purification of water, types of toilet facility, termination of pregnancy, fertility, contraception or family planning, age at sterilization, mosquito-borne diseases, coverage of health insurance, marital status, literacy, and occupation, subsequently, implying the significant theoretical as well as practical policy implications to mitigate these detrimental health impacts of multidimensional energy poverty in developing countries. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This study employs an adjusted Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index to assess and monitor multidimensional energy poverty in South and Southeast Asia, uncovering significant adverse health impacts on women. The findings suggest important theoretical and practical policy implications for mitigating these detrimental health effects in developing countries.