Abstract
This article examines the socioeconomic inequalities in the use of antenatal care and medical assistance at delivery in Nigeria, using the multi-rounds of the cross-sectional Nigerian Demographic Health Survey conducted between 1990 and 2008. The analyses include only women aged 15 to 49 with at least one live birth in the past 3 years preceding the surveys date. The socioeconomic indicators selected were household wealth index and women’s level of education. The results indicate that the use of antenatal care has stagnated while medical assistance at delivery has increased sluggishly in Nigeria during 1990 to 2008. Stark socioeconomic differences in utilization of antenatal care and medical assistance at delivery services exist with growing inequalities in utilization across household wealth and women’s level of education. Despite existing maternal health promotion initiatives in the country, the use of antenatal care and medical assistance at delivery is disproportionately lower among the poor and uneducated women.
Highlights
Improving maternal and child health is a crucial component of developmental issues in any society
The corresponding figures of medical assistance at delivery were 30%, 37%, and 35%, respectively. Coverage of both the services followed a similar pattern across the household wealth quintiles and women’s level of education during 1990-2008 (Table 2)
In the case of women education, coverage of antenatal care declined from 37% in 1990 to 25% in 2003 and further to 23% in 2008 among the uneducated women
Summary
Improving maternal and child health is a crucial component of developmental issues in any society. Unlike the developed countries, where maternal death is 1 in 2,800, the mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa is 1 in every 16 pregnant women (Tawiah, 2011). Access and responsive health care utilization remain relevant to maternal health promotion in many countries across the region. Inequality in resources such as household wealth and individual income was found to be factors inhibiting the extent of use of antenatal care, medically assisted delivery and to have a postnatal care (Zere, Moeti, Kirigia, Mwase, & Kataika, 2007)
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