Abstract
This paper seeks to identify the determinants of the choice of treatment of pregnant women in Cameroon. Theoretically, the methodology is based on a discrete choice model with random utility. Empirically, the econometric specification is a Nested Multinomial Logit Model. The data used comes from the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) organized in 2011 by the National Institute of Statistics. The results reveal that uneducated women or those having only a primary education prefer to meet the traditional midwives than seek modern maternal health services. Moreover, the absence of a paid job for the pregnant woman, the large size of the household, Islamic or animist religion, poverty, high costs of healthcare and transportation are constraints which make the pregnant woman to prefer the services of traditional midwives to modern services of maternal health. The use of modern healthcare services by pregnant women in Cameroon can therefore be improved by at least two means: firstly, by improving on the level of education of women and economically empowering them. Secondly, in a context where the costs of healthcare services are paid directly by the pregnant women themselves or by their families, it is important to put in place health insurance schemes in order to guarantee proper follow-up of pregnant women until delivery as well as taking care of complicated cases.
Highlights
The health services received by a mother during pregnancy, at birth and immediately after delivery are important for her health and survival and for those of the child
After choosing the maternal healthcare service provider by the pregnant women, it is important to analyze the factors that determine the quantity of the maternal healthcare services they consume
Among the significant results of the empirical analysis, we can retain that the absence of education or primary education are factors which reduce the demand for modern services of maternal health on the one hand and on the other hand favour the demand of the services of traditional midwives on the other hand
Summary
The health services received by a mother during pregnancy, at birth and immediately after delivery are important for her health and survival and for those of the child. Health is an element of human capital, as well as education and nutrition. [1] defines human capital as a set of cognitive, physical, nutritional, and biological aptitudes which reinforce human capacities. Human capital has two main components: education and health. The application of the concept of human capital to health was initially developed by [1], followed by [2] who develops the concept of healthcapital. The notion of health-capital considers health as a perishable good whose stock must be maintained by investments in health. According to the healthcapital model, individuals receive a stock of health-capital at birth, which depreciates with time but can be increased
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