Nasser B. Ebrahim
Department of Public Health, Keimyung University, Daegu, South Korea
DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmra/v7-i11-37Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT:
Maternal health service utilization and its association with women’s health care decision-making autonomy were examined from a nationally representative sample. Adequate use of maternal health services is critical in maintaining the well-being and health of mothers and prevent maternal and neonatal mortalities. Women’s health care decision-making autonomy has been cited to influence the uptake of maternal services among women in resource-poor countries. A secondary data collected in 2016 by Demographic and Health Survey, Ethiopia, was used. Three maternal health services measurement indicators and their associations with women health decision-making autonomy were examined (number of prenatal visits, birth attended by skilled health personnel, and delivery at health facilities) from a sample of women aged 15-49 years (n=11023) were included. SPSS ver. 27 was used to analyze the data after taking into account survey design effects and sampling weights. Results showed that maternal health utilization services in the study population was inadequate. However, the association between women’s health care decision-making autonomy and births attended by skilled health care professionals and birthing at health care facilities were significant. The significant and positive association between women’s health care decision-making autonomy and the two critical maternal health services (access to skilled birth attendants and delivery at health facilities) may indicate that enhancing women’s autonomy could have a potential to reduce maternal mortalities among Ethiopian women.
KEYWORDS:Women, maternal health services, health care decision-making autonomy, Africa, Ethiopia
REFERENCES1) Ameyaw, E. K., Tanle, A., Kissah-Korsah, K., & Amo-Adjei, J. (2016). Women’s Health Decision‐Making Autonomy and Skilled Birth Attendance in Ghana. International Journal of Reproductive Medicine, 2016(1), 6569514. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6569514.
2) Andriano, L., Behrman, J., & Monden, C. (2021). Husbands' dominance in decision-making about women's health: A spatial diffusion perspective in Sub-Saharan Africa. Demography, 58(5), 1955-1975. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9429489.
3) Bayou, N. B., Grant, L., Riley, S. C., & Bradley, E. H. (2022). Structural quality of labor and delivery care in government hospitals of Ethiopia: a descriptive analysis. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 22(1), 523. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-04850-5.
4) Central Statistical Agency (CSA) [Ethiopia] and ICF International (2017). Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: CSA and ICF International [Internet]. 2017 Jul; [cited 2024 Sept 8]. Available from: https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR328/FR328.pdf.
5) Dickson, K. S. (2021). Women empowerment and skilled birth attendants among women in rural Ghana. BioMed Research International, 2021(1), 9914027. DOI: 10.1155/2021/9914027.
6) Dyson, T., & Moore, M. (1983). On kinship structure, female autonomy, and demographic behavior in India. Population and Development Review, 35-60. https://doi.org/10.2307/1972894.
7) Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) [Ethiopia] and ICF (2021). Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019: Final Report. Rockville, Maryland, USA: EPHI and ICF, 2021 May; [cited 2024 Sept 22]. Available from: https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR363/FR363.pdf.
8) Imo, C. K. (2022). Influence of women's decision-making autonomy on antenatal care utilisation and institutional delivery services in Nigeria: evidence from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 22(1), 141. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-04478-5.
9) Kamiya, Y. (2011). Women's autonomy and reproductive health care utilisation: empirical evidence from Tajikistan. Health Policy, 102(2-3), 304-313. Doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2011.04.001.
10) Khatir, A. G., Wang, T., Ariyo, T., Rahman, N., & Jiang, Q. (2024). Women's healthcare autonomy and the utilization of maternal healthcare services in Afghanistan. Public Health, 235, 49-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2024.06.021.
11) Kishor, S., Gupta, K (2009). Gender equality and women's empowerment in India [Internet]. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India. International Institute for Population Sciences; [cited 2024 Sep 16]. Available from: https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/OD57/OD57.pdf.
12) Lee, R., Kumar, J., & Al-Nimr, A. (2017). Women's healthcare decision-making autonomy by wealth quintile from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in sub-Saharan African countries. International Journal of Women’s Health and Wellness, 3(054), 2474-1353. https://doi.org/10.23937/2474-1353/1510054.
13) Kassahun, A., & Zewdie, A. (2022). Decision-making autonomy in maternal health service use and associated factors among women in Mettu District, Southwest Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 12(5), e059307. Doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059307.
14) Moyer, C. A., Adongo, P. B., Aborigo, R. A., Hodgson, A., Engmann, C. M., & DeVries, R. (2014). “It’s up to the woman’s people”: how social factors influence facility-based delivery in Rural Northern Ghana. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 18, 109-119. DOI: 10.1007/s10995-013-1240-y.
15) Osamor, P. E., & Grady, C. (2016). Women’s autonomy in health care decision-making in developing countries: a synthesis of the literature. International Journal of Women's Health, 191-202. Doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S105483.
16) Rahman, M. M., Mostofa, M. G., & Hoque, M. A. (2014). Women’s household decision-making autonomy and contraceptive behavior among Bangladeshi women. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 5(1), 9-15. a. Doi: 10.1016/j.srhc.2013.12.003.
17) Rizkianti, A., Afifah, T., Saptarini, I., & Rakhmadi, M. F. (2020). Women's decision-making autonomy in the household and the use of maternal health services: an Indonesian case study. Midwifery, 90, 102816. Doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2020.102816
18) Saaka, M. (2020). Women's decision-making autonomy and its relationship with child feeding practices and postnatal growth. Journal of Nutritional Science, 9, e38. Doi: 10.1017/jns.2020.30.
19) Sado, L., Spaho, A., & Hotchkiss, D. R. (2014). The influence of women's empowerment on maternal health care utilization: evidence from Albania. Social Science & Medicine, 114, 169-177. Doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.05.047.
20) Salvador, C. J., Ebrahim, N. B. (2024). Women's Decision-Making Autonomy and Use of Maternal Healthcare Services among Filipino Women. Universal Journal of Public Health, 12, 508 -514. DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2024.120308.
21) Sougou, N. M., Bassoum, O., Faye, A., & Leye, M. M. M. (2020). Women’s autonomy in health decisionmaking and its effect on access to family planning services in Senegal in 2017: a propensity score analysis. BMC Public Health, 20, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09003-x.
22) Tesfa, D., Azanaw, M. M., Gebremariam, A. D., Engidaw, M. T., Tiruneh, M., Zemene, M. A., ... & Dessie, A. M. (2022). Women’s independent decision-making power and determinants on not to use contraceptives among currently married women in Ethiopia using demographic and Health Survey data: Multilevel Analysis. BMC Women's Health, 22(1), 541. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-022-02051-y.
23) United Nations Population Fund (n. d.) Maternal mortality [Internet]. United Nations Population Fund. [cited 2024 Aug 30]. Available from: https://ethiopia.unfpa.org/en/topics/maternal-health-17.
24) USAID Policy. Equality and Women's Empowerment Policy (2012). USAID; [cited 2024 Sept 21]. Available from: https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/GenderEqualityPolicy.pdf.
25) UNICEF (2024). Prenatal Care. UNICEF, 2024 Jan; [cited 2024 Sept 20]. Available from: a. https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/prenatal-care/.
26) UNICEF (2022). United Nations Children’s Fund, delivering for women: Improving maternal health services to save lives. UNICEF New York: UNICEF, 2022; [cited 2024 Sept 9]. Available from: file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Delivering-for-women_brochure_8-May-2022.pdf.
27) UN WOMEN (n. d.). Facts and figures: Economic empowerment. UN Women; [cited 2024 Sept 5]. Available from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures.
28) WHOa. The Global Health Observatory: Explore a world of health [Internet]. WHO. [cited 2024 Sept 20]. Available from: https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-details/4622.
29) WHOb (n. d.). The Global Health Observatory. Explore a world of health data [Internet]. [Cited 2024 Sept 19]. Available from: https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-details/80
30) WHO (2024). Maternal Mortality. WHO; 2024 Apr; [cited 2024 Sept 14]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality.
Volume 07 Issue 11 November 2024
There is an Open Access article, distributed under the term of the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits remixing, adapting and building upon the work for non-commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.
Our Services and Policies
Authors should prepare their manuscripts according to the instructions given in the authors' guidelines. Manuscripts which do not conform to the format and style of the Journal may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected.
The Journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication so that it conforms to the formatting requirements of the Journal.
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis will publish 12 monthly online issues per year,IJMRA publishes articles as soon as the final copy-edited version is approved. IJMRA publishes articles and review papers of all subjects area.
Open access is a mechanism by which research outputs are distributed online, Hybrid open access journals, contain a mixture of open access articles and closed access articles.
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis initiate a call for research paper for Volume 07 Issue 12 (December 2024).
PUBLICATION DATES:
1) Last Date of Submission : 26 December 2024 .
2) Article published within a week.
3) Submit Article : editor@ijmra.in or Online
Why with us
1 : IJMRA only accepts original and high quality research and technical papers.
2 : Paper will publish immediately in current issue after registration.
3 : Authors can download their full papers at any time with digital certificate.
The Editors reserve the right to reject papers without sending them out for review.
Authors should prepare their manuscripts according to the instructions given in the authors' guidelines. Manuscripts which do not conform to the format and style of the Journal may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. The Journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication so that it conforms to the formatting requirements of the Journal.