Women's status within the household as a determinant of institutional delivery in Malawi

Abstract

BackgroundComplications that occur during the time of delivery can be prevented with proper medical care in the health facilities. Although women status is often cited as a factor related to improving maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, there is limited data on woman's position within her household and institutional delivery use in Malawi. Thus, this paper examined whether the women's status in the household influences is associated with institution delivery in Malawi. MethodsA cross-sectional study that utilized nationally representative data obtained from the 2010 and 2015–16 Malawi Demographic and Health Surveys were conducted. Sample on ever-married women (4273) in 2010 and (2626) in 2015–16 aged 15–49 years were analyzed. The multivariate analyses were conducted using two-level multilevel logistic regression fitting generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). ResultsThe GLMMs shows that women's education status, intimate partner violence, women's age, household wealth and media exposure were significantly associated with institutional delivery in 2010 whilst women's decision on how to spend money, women's age, husband's educational level, household wealth, community women's education, community distance to official health facility were significantly associated with institutional delivery in 2015–16. ConclusionsThe study findings recommend that policy actions that increase women's status and position within the household could increase institutional delivery in Malawi.