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DOES SERVICE ACCESSIBILITY REDUCE SOCIOECONOMIC DIFFERENTIALS IN MATERNITY CARE SEEKING? EVIDENCE FROM RURAL BANGLADESH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

M. HAFIZUR RAHMAN ,
W. HENRY MOSLEY ,
SAIFUDDIN AHMED  and
HALIDA H. AKHTER
M. HAFIZUR RAHMAN*
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
W. HENRY MOSLEY
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
SAIFUDDIN AHMED
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
HALIDA H. AKHTER
Affiliation:
Family Planning Association of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
*
§Corresponding author: Dr M. Hafizur Rahman. Email: [email protected].
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Summary

Maternal mortality is a serious public health concern in Bangladesh. However, most deaths could be prevented through proper and timely care seeking and adequate management. Unfortunately, fewer than half of pregnant women in Bangladesh seek antenatal care, and only one in eight receive delivery care from medically trained providers. The specific objectives of this research are to examine the socioeconomic differentials of maternity care seeking, and to determine whether accessibility of health services reduces the socioeconomic differentials in maternity care seeking. A multi-level logistic regression method is employed to analyse longitudinal data collected from a sample of 1019 women from all over Bangladesh. The study finds significant socioeconomic disparities in both antenatal and delivery care seeking. Service accessibility, however, significantly reduces the socioeconomic differentials in delivery care seeking. Services need to be made accessible to reduce the inequality in maternity care seeking between rich and poor, empowered and non-empowered.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 19 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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