An analysis of the relationship between antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and the socio-economic status of households in Zimbabwe

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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Maternal mortality is a global concern and a consensus has been reached that the health of mothers and children is an important indicator of national health and the socio-economic development of countries. Monitoring progress in maternal mortality reduction relies on reproductive health indicators, including the proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker and antenatal care coverage. Besides playing an educative role on the importance of skilled birth attendance, the use of antenatal care in the prevention of maternal mortality continues to be debated. This study carried out an analysis of the relationship between antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and the socio-economic status of households in Zimbabwe. A structural equation modeling approach is used to correct for the problems of endogeneity in the use of antenatal care whilst taking into account the possible effects of a household’s socio-economic status on the decision to go for antenatal care and to utilise skilled attendance at delivery. The findings point to a significant and positive effect of the number of antenatal consultations, quality of the antenatal care services and socio-economic status on skilled birth attendance. The results suggest that interventions should target both supply and demand sides of maternal health making sure that women are encouraged to go for more antenatal visits and that health facilities are able to provide high quality antenatal care services.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Economics
Keywords
Antenatal care, Skilled birth, Zimbabwe
Citation
Tangawamira, E.L. (2015). An analysis of the relationship between antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and the socio-economic status of households in Zimbabwe. University of Namibia, Windhoek.