Factors influencing the use of maternal healthcare services and childhood immunization in Swaziland

Abstract

BackgroundMaternal and child healthcare services are very important for the health outcomes of the mother and that of the child and in ensuring that both maternal and child deaths are prevented. Studying these services is necessary in developing countries where infrastructure (which is meant to deal with these health services) is minimal or lacking. The objective of the study is to examine the factors that influence the use of maternal healthcare services and childhood immunization in Swaziland.MethodsOur study used secondary data from the Swaziland Demographic and Health Survey 2006–07. This is an explorative and descriptive study which used pre-selected variables to study factors influencing the use of maternal and child healthcare services in Swaziland. We ran three different types of analyses: univariate, bivariate and multivariate. For the multivariate analysis, a logistic regression was run to investigate the relationship between the dependent and independent variables.FindingsThe study findings showed a high use rate of antenatal care (97.3%) and delivery care (74.0%) and a low rate of postnatal care use (20.5%). The uptake of childhood immunization is also high in the country, averaging more than 80.0%. Certain factors which were found to be influencing the use of maternal healthcare and childhood immunization include: woman’s age, parity, media exposure, maternal education, wealth quintile, and residence. The findings also revealed that these factors affect the use of maternal and child health services differently.ConclusionIt is important to study factors related to maternal and child health uptake to inform relevant stakeholders about possible areas of improvement. Programs to educate families about the importance of maternal and child healthcare services should be implemented. In addition, interventions should focus on: (a) age differentials in use of maternal and child health services, (b) women with higher parities, (c) women in rural areas, and (d) women from the poor quintile. We recommend that possible future studies could use the qualitative approach to study issues associated with the low use of postnatal services.

Predictors of Postnatal Care Services Utilization Among Women in Nigeria: A Facility‐Based Study

“…From the bivariate analysis, it was found that the rate of utilization of PNC services was significantly associated with certain sociodemographic factors, including age, educational status, employment status, use of ANC services, and level of knowledge about PNC. These findings are largely consistent with those of previous studies (Belachew, Taye, & Belachew, 2016;Dhakal et al, 2007;Khanal, Adhikari, Karkee, & Gavidia, 2014;Mehari & Wencheko, 2013;Somefun & Ibisomi, 2016;Takai et al, 2015;Tsawe et al, 2015).…”

“…The level of utilization of PNC services in this study was very low, which corroborates the trend of poor utilization as observed in several similar studies across the country and in different parts of Africa (Idris et al., ; Kinuthia, ; Tsawe et al., ; Ugboaja et al., ). This low level of PNC utilization may be due to the fact that, among other things, there was a low level of knowledge about PNC among the respondents.…”

A Study on Utilization of Maternal Health Services and Factors Influencing the Utilization in Urban Slums of Lucknow

“…maternity center while the same was also found by Delhi slum study 5 and a study in Rohilkhand region of UP also found that Majority of the women received ANC from a government functionary. 17 The low level of PNC in our study was in accordance with other studies 1,5 The low utilization of Postnatal Care services could be explained by that the mother may believe that it is not necessary to go back for check-ups after delivery without complications.…”

“…[1][2][3][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] A study done in Rohilkhand region by Srivastava, A et al in 2014 also identified a number of demographic and socio-economic factors such as education, religion etc. to be the major causes of poor utilization of primary health care services.…”

“…1 Many health programs have been launched in the country in last two-three decades for women and child health care. Health care utilization overall, and for maternal health specifically, has improved in India mainly due to NRHM 2 but Maternal mortality and morbidity continue to be high despite the existence of national programs which could be due to sub optimal levels of utilization of services [3][4] especially amongst the rural poor and urban slum population.…”