Expanding access to maternal, newborn and primary healthcare services through private-community-government partnership clinic models in rural Kenya: The Ubuntu-Afya kiosk model
Background: Fifteen counties contribute 98.7% of the maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality in Kenya. The dismal maternal and newborn (MNH) outcomes in these settings are mostly attributable to limited access to skilled MNH services. Public health services are stretched and limited in reach, and many social programmes are not sustainably designed. We implemented a […]
Why don’t illiterate women in rural, Northern Tanzania, access maternal healthcare?
Background: In 2017, roughly 540 women in Sub-Saharan Africa died every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. To stem this public-health crisis, the WHO recommends a standard continuity of maternal healthcare, yet most women do not receive this care. Surveys suggest that illiteracy limits the uptake of the recommended care, yet little […]
Improving Access and Utilization of Maternal Healthcare Services through Focused Antenatal Care in Rural Ghana: A Qualitative Study
Improved access to and utilization of various maternal healthcare services have been seen as the panacea to poor maternal and child health outcomes characterizing many developing countries. Focused Antenatal Care (FANC) replaced the regular antenatal care model about a decade and a half ago. This study sought to document empirical outcomes of how the FANC […]
Covid-19 pandemic impact on maternal and child health services access in Nampula, Mozambique: a mixed methods research
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has so far infected more than 30 million people in the world, having major impact on global health with collateral damage. In Mozambique, a public state of emergency was declared at the end of March 2020. This has limited people’s movements and reduced public services, leading to a decrease in the […]
Access to maternal health services: Geographical inequalities, united republic of Tanzania
Objective To determine if improved geographical accessibility led to increased uptake of maternity care in the south of the United Republic of Tanzania. Methods In a household census in 2007 and another large household survey in 2013, we investigated 22 243 and 13 820 women who had had a recent live birth, respectively. The proportions […]
Effects of terrorist attacks on access to maternal healthcare services: A national longitudinal study in Burkina Faso
Introduction Most of the literature on terrorist attacks’ health impacts has focused on direct victims rather than on distal consequences in the overall population. There is limited knowledge on how terrorist attacks can be detrimental to access to healthcare services. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of terrorist attacks on the […]
Equity in Maternal Health in South Africa: Analysis of Health Service Access and Health Status in a National Household Survey
Background:South Africa is increasingly focused on reducing maternal mortality. Documenting variation in access to maternal health services across one of the most inequitable nations could assist in re-direction of resources.Methods:Analysis draws on a population-based household survey that used multistage-stratified sampling. Women, who in the past two years were pregnant (1113) or had a child (1304), […]
Improved access to comprehensive emergency obstetric care and its effect on institutional maternal mortality in rural Mali
Objective To evaluate the effect of a national referral system that aims to reduce maternal mortality rates through improving access to and the quality of emergency obstetric care in rural Mali (sub-Saharan Africa). Methods A maternity referral system that included basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care, transportation to obstetric health services and community cost-sharing schemes […]
Characteristics of community savings groups in rural Eastern Uganda: Opportunities for improving access to maternal health services
Background: Rural populations in Uganda have limited access to formal financial Institutions, but a growing majority belong to saving groups. These saving groups could have the potential to improve household income and access to health services. Objective: To understand organizational characteristics, benefits and challenges, of savings groups in rural Uganda. Methods: This was a cross-sectional […]
Inequalities in access to birth by caesarean section in the context of user fee exemption for maternal health services in southwest and north central Nigeria
Background: User fee exemption for maternal healthcare services was introduced with a focus on providing free maternal health services, including caesarean sections (CS), in Nigeria. This policy has had a positive impact on access to facility-based delivery; however, the extent to which inequality in access to CS exists in the context of user fee exemption […]
