Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

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Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters) by SDG "SDG-10: Reduced inequalities"

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    Carbon Footprint Inequality in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Krinsky, Jezri; Isaacs, Gilad
    As the effects of climate change and other ecological crises worsen, numerous attempts have been made to apportion individual responsibility, or ecological footprints, to find effective and just ways to reduce ecological damage. Massive inequalities exist in the responsibility for, and consequence of, ecological damage. So, a just transition must identify how ecologically damaging consumption patterns may be reduced, in ways which do not adversely affect lower-income and other marginalised groups. However, although a significant proportion of carbon emissions may be accounted for in terms of household consumption, these patterns of household consumption are deeply influenced by wider social, political, and economic forces, in larger systems of provisioning. This study estimates and examines the patterns of household carbon footprints within South Africa and explores the link between carbon footprint inequality and income inequality and energy poverty; and how these patterns and links are shaped by systems of provision for carbon intensive consumer good
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    Socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of double- burden malnutrition in South African households
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mahao, Lekoetse; Rossouw, Laura
    This paper reviews the double-burden of malnutrition at the household-level, specifically mother-child double burden of malnutrition (MCDB) in South Africa. Nationally representative data from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) was used. All five waves of NIDS (2008-2017) were used for descriptive statistics and to quantify the extent of inequality in MCDB using Erreygers’ Corrected Concentration Index. The most recent wave (wave 5, 2017) was used to determine the factors associated with inequality in MCDB using Wagstaff’s decomposition analysis. The results confirm the existence of MCDB in South Africa and indicate that the prevalence of MCDB was the highest in the third wave of NIDS (2012). However, there has been no consistent increase or decrease in the prevalence of MCDB across waves. Inequality in MCDB was the highest in wave 2 (2010 – 2011), with MCDB being disproportionately concentrated amongst the poor. Wagstaff’s decomposition analysis revealed that differences in the distribution of wealth was the biggest contributor to wealth-related inequality in MCDB. The findings of this study confirm the stated hypotheses, and suggest that inequality in MCDB is unfair and unjust. Addressing wealth inequality in the country may be a means to improving nutritional outcomes amongst vulnerable mothers and children. Policies aimed at addressing malnutrition should also target mothers, since mothers’ health and socioeconomic status affect children’s nutritional outcomes. Moreover, policies should not aggravate one form of malnutrition while attempting to address the other. Improving nutritional outcomes in the country may also be a means to impeding deleterious economic outcomes
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    The Contribution of lifestyle risk factors on Wealth-related inequalities in Self-assessed Health and Chronic Diseases in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-05) Rosaros, Gosego Mmereki Andrew; Rossouw, Laura
    There is a growing epidemiological transition from communicable diseases to non- communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries. The expected pace and scale of the shift to NCDs will overwhelm the healthcare systems of many lower-income countries. A significant contributor to NCDs is lifestyle risk factors such as episodic drinking, smoking, and an unhealthy diet. This study aims to measure the contribution of current alcohol and cigarette consumption to wealth-related health inequalities in South Africa. The health measures used will be self-assessed health (SAH) and specific NCDs. This study uses data from 4178 male and 6087 female participants captured in the South African Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in 2016. This study estimated the wealth-related health inequalities using the Erreygers’ corrected concentration index (CCI) and then estimated the Wagstaff decomposition of the concentration index to establish the contribution of alcohol and cigarette consumption to wealth-related inequalities in health outcomes. The concentration index findings indicate that the burden of morbidity is statistically significantly concentrated among individuals in wealthier quintiles for several health outcomes, except respiratory problems, which is significantly concentrated among lower wealth quintiles for males. The Wagstaff decomposition reveals that current alcohol consumption and cigarette consumption contributions to wealth-related health inequalities are smaller than the contributions of some socioeconomic and demographic factors, including wealth, educational attainment, marital status, and age. In conclusion, this study proposes that redistributing wealth towards poor individuals will likely decrease South Africa's income-related health inequalities and implement anti-smoking campaigns and advertising policies