Abstract
BackgroundEach day, approximately 810 women die during pregnancy and childbirth and 94% of the deaths take place in low and middle income countries. Only 45% of the births in South Asia are attended by skilled professionals, which is lower than that in other Asian regions. Antenatal and postnatal care received from skilled providers can help prevent maternal and neonatal mortality by identifying pregnancy-related complications. Women’s empowerment is considered to be a significant determinant of maternal health care outcomes; however, studies on the contextual influences of different dimensions of empowerment in Nepal are relatively limited. Therefore, this study analyzed nationwide survey data to examine the influence of women’s economic empowerment, sociocultural empowerment, familial/interpersonal empowerment and media and information technology empowerment on accessing skilled delivery services among the married women in Nepal.MethodsThis study examined the influence of women’s empowerment on skilled delivery services among married women (n = 4400) aged 15–49 years using data from the 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were employed to analyze the data.ResultsSignificant associations were found between women’s media and information technology empowerment, economic empowerment and sociocultural empowerment and access to skilled birth attendants. Specifically, the education of women, their occupation, owning a bank account, media exposure, and internet use were significantly associated with the use of skilled birth attendants.ConclusionFocusing on women’s access to media and information technology, economic enhancement and education may increase the use of skilled birth attendants in Nepal.
Highlights
Each day, approximately 810 women die during pregnancy and childbirth and 94% of the deaths take place in low and middle income countries
A three-stage selection sampling design was used, where the wards were selected as the Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) and an EA was selected from each PSU
The percentage of women living in urban areas was higher (53.8%) than that living in rural areas (44.2%)
Summary
Approximately 810 women die during pregnancy and childbirth and 94% of the deaths take place in low and middle income countries. Antenatal and postnatal care received from skilled providers can help prevent maternal and neonatal mortality by identifying pregnancy-related complications. Women’s empowerment is considered to be a significant determinant of maternal health care outcomes; studies on the contextual influences of different dimensions of empowerment in Nepal are relatively limited. Antenatal care (ANC) and postnatal care received from skilled providers can help prevent maternal and neonatal mortality by identifying pregnancy-related. Women’s empowerment should be viewed as one of the dimensions of maternal health since it plays significant role in the health and well-being of women, children and the family. It has been one of the major UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [10]. Existing studies have documented the significant association between women’s empowerment and maternal health service utilization [11, 16,17,18,19,20,21]
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