Abstract
BackgroundPoor maternal health delivery in developing countries results in more than half a million maternal deaths during pregnancy, childbirth or within a few weeks of delivery. This is partly due to unavailability and low utilization of maternal healthcare services in limited-resource settings. The aim of this study was to investigate the access and utilization of maternal healthcare in Amansie-West district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.MethodsAn analytical cross-sectional study, involving 720 pregnant women systematically sampled from antenatal clinics in five sub-districts was conducted from February to May 2015 in the Amansie-West district. Data on participants’ socio-economic characteristics, knowledge level and access and utilization of maternal health care services were collected with a structured questionnaire. Odds ratios were estimated to describe the association between explanatory variables and maternal healthcare using generalized estimating equations (GEE).Results68.5, 83.6 and 33.6% of the women had > 3 antenatal care visits, utilized skilled delivery and postnatal care services respectively. The mothers’ knowledge level of pregnancy emergencies and newborn danger signs was low. Socio-economic characteristics and healthcare access influenced the utilization of maternal healthcare. Compared to the lowest wealth quintile, being in the highest wealth quintile was associated with higher odds of receiving postnatal care (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]; 95%CI: 2.84; 1.63, 4.94). Use of health facility as a main source of healthcare was also associated with higher odds of antenatal care and skilled delivery.ConclusionThis study demonstrates suboptimal access and utilization of maternal healthcare in rural districts of Ghana, which are influenced by socio-economic characteristics of pregnant mothers. This suggests the need for tailored intervention to improve maternal healthcare utilization for mothers in this and other similar settings.
Highlights
Improved maternal health is an important pre-requisite for women’s advancement, yet due to low access and utilization of maternal healthcare, women, especially those in rural communities remain vulnerable and underserved
These have been partly attributed to the low utilization of maternal healthcare services, and are influenced by social, economic, and cultural factors as well as healthcare availability and accessibility [4,5,6,7,8,9]
About 97% had registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and almost all of them with the exception of two were active members of the scheme
Summary
Improved maternal health is an important pre-requisite for women’s advancement, yet due to low access and utilization of maternal healthcare, women, especially those in rural communities remain vulnerable and underserved. Nuamah et al BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2019) 19:6 die during pregnancy or childbirth or within a few weeks of delivery, with most of them living in developing countries [3] These have been partly attributed to the low utilization of maternal healthcare services, and are influenced by social, economic, and cultural factors as well as healthcare availability and accessibility [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Poor maternal health delivery in developing countries results in more than half a million maternal deaths during pregnancy, childbirth or within a few weeks of delivery This is partly due to unavailability and low utilization of maternal healthcare services in limited-resource settings.
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