Abstract
Maternal and child mortalities are among major health problems facing developing countries such as Ghana. Most of these deaths can be avoided by utilization of maternity health care services. The study examines the effect of health insurance holding and other socioeconomic and demographic factors on the choice of health facility for childbirth in Ghana. The study used data from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health survey. Data were analyzed for descriptive statistics as well as a Multinomial Logistic Regression for identification of factors that influence delivery in health facility. The study results have shown that, holding of health insurance and wealth significantly influences expectant mother’s decision to use government health facilities for childbirth. Also, the study revealed considerable variations in region and between rural and urban utilization of this services in Ghana. It is recommended that in order to improve the utilization of health facility for childbirth services and hence maternal health care utilization, there is the need to improve public awareness and efforts should also be taking by policy makers to integrate the private sector properly into the National Health Insurance scheme. Policy should also target mothers who have had the experience of child birth on the need to use health care facility services for each pregnancy. The government and other service providers (NGOs, religious institutions and private providers) may endeavor to improve on the distribution of health facilities, human resources, good roads and necessary infrastructure among other things in order to facilitate easy access to health care providers especially for rural dwellers.
Highlights
Pregnancy and childbirth is impossible to be separated from women's lives
Mpembeni et al (2007) found that the proportion of women with skilled attendants at delivery decrease with increasing distance to the health facility in Southern Tanzania. The study employs both descriptive and multinomial analysis to examine the effect of national health insurance holding and other socioeconomic variables on the choice of health facility for childbirth in Ghana
The multinomial logistic regression model is used in this study because the dependent variable place of delivery has been categorized into three choices
Summary
Pregnancy and childbirth is impossible to be separated from women's lives While this is ordinarily a period of pride and joy, it is associated with pain, disability and even death for too many women in developing countries. Most of these deaths and disabilities can be prevented through access to and utilization of quality Maternal Healthcare Services (MHCS) as evidenced by many studies (Bhatia, 1993; Babalola and Fatusi, 2009). The United Nations Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5) seeks to reduce maternal mortality by threequarters and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015 (UN, 2011). A large proportion of these deaths could be prevented through timely and appropriate interventions such as antenatal care, delivery and postnatal
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