Women empowerment and uptake of antenatal care services : A meta-analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys from 33 Sub-Saharan African countries

Archives of Public Health

Gebretsadik Shibre¹  Betregiorigis Zegeye²  Helena Yeboah³  Ghose Bisjawit³  Sanni Yaya⁴  Edward Kwabena Ameyaw⁵ 

[1] Department of Reproductive, Family and Population Health, School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;HaSET Maternal and Child Health Research Program, Shewa Robit, Ethiopia;School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada;School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada;The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom;The Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia;

关键词: Women’s empowerment;    Antenatal care;    Global Health;    Sub-Saharan Africa;    Demographic and Health Surveys;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13690-021-00604-5

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWomen empowerment has been linked to increased skilled antenatal care (ANC) service use. However, there is no evidence on the net effect of women empowerment on ANC in the Sub-saharan African (SSA) region. We aim to address the knowledge gap on whether or not women empowerment positively influences the uptake of ANC at the SSA regional level.MethodsWe analyzed the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) datasets from 33 SSA countries. Following the DHS data analysis guideline, we measured women empowerment using two indicators. The first indicator is an index, which comprises decision-making on women’s own health, household purchase and visit to family or relatives whilst disagreeing statements that husband is justified in beating his wife constitutes the second indictor. We performed confounder-adjusted logistic regression analysis for the two indicators with ANC attendance in each of the 33 countries. Then, we pooled the adjusted Odds Ratios (OR) using the random effect model through the two-stage Individual Participant Data meta-analysis technique. Summary findings are reported in OR and corresponding 95 %CI and are presented in a forest plot.ResultsModerately empowered women had marginally higher odd of skilled ANC service across the SSA region (aOR = 1.19; 95 %CI: 1.03, 1.38, with a prediction interval of 0.58, 2.45). Conversely, being involved in the three decisions (aOR = 1.15; 95 %CI: 0.99, 1.33, with prediction interval 0.57, 2.31), and attitude towards wife-beating (aOR = 0.97; 95 %CI: 0.88, 1.06, with prediction interval of 0.63, 1.48) had no statistically significant relationship with ANC.ConclusionsWomen empowerment did not predict the use of skilled ANC in the context of the SSA region. We recommend that further studies be conducted in order to understand how women empowerment affects skilled ANC service utilization in the region.

【 授权许可】

CC BY