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Inequalities in reproductive health care use in five West-African countries: A decomposition analysis of the wealth-based gaps.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Family planning and maternal care services have become increasingly available in West Africa but the level of non-use remains high. This unfavorable outcome may be partly due to the unaffordability of reproductive health care services. METHODS:Using the Demographic Health Survey data from Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, we perform a decomposition analysis to quantify the contribution of socio-demographic characteristics to disparities in exposure to mass media information on family planning, use of modern contraceptives, adequate antenatal care visits, facility-based childbirth and C-section between low-wealth and high-wealth women. RESULTS:Our study shows that differences in maternal characteristics between the wealth groups explain at least 40% of the gap in exposure to mass media family planning information, 30% in modern contraceptive use, 24% of adequate antenatal care visits, 47% of the difference in facility-based childbirths, and 62% in C-section. Lack of information on pregnancy complications, living in rural residence, religion, lack of autonomy in health facility seeking decision, need to pay, and distance explains the disparity in reproductive health care use across all countries. In countries with complete fee exemption policies for specific groups in the population, Ghana, Niger, and Senegal, the inequality gaps between wealth groups in having an adequate number of antenatal care visits and facility-based childbirth are smaller than in countries with partial or no exemption policies. But this is not the case for C-section. CONCLUSIONS:There is evidence that current policies addressing the cost of maternal care services may increase the wealth-based inequality in maternal care use if socio-demographic differences are not addressed. Public health interventions are needed to target socio-demographic disparities and health facility seeking problems that disadvantage women in poor households.

SUBMITTER: Ogundele OJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7099835 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Inequalities in reproductive health care use in five West-African countries: A decomposition analysis of the wealth-based gaps.

Ogundele Oluwasegun Jko OJ Pavlova Milena M Groot Wim W

International journal for equity in health 20200327 1

<h4>Background</h4>Family planning and maternal care services have become increasingly available in West Africa but the level of non-use remains high. This unfavorable outcome may be partly due to the unaffordability of reproductive health care services.<h4>Methods</h4>Using the Demographic Health Survey data from Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, we perform a decomposition analysis to quantify the contribution of socio-demographic characteristics to disparities in exposure to ma ...[more]

PMID: 32220250

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Project description:Background: Around 80% of the African population lives in urban areas, and a rapid urbanization is observed in almost all countries. Urban poverty has been linked to several sexual and reproductive health risks, including high levels of unintended pregnancies. We aim to investigate wealth inequalities in demand for family planning satisfied with modern methods (mDFPS) among women living in urban areas from African countries. Methods: We used data from 43 national health surveys carried out since 2010 to assess wealth inequalities in mDFPS. mDFPS and the share of modern contraceptive use were stratified by groups of household wealth. We also assessed the ecological relationship between the proportion of urban population living in informal settlements and both mDFPS and inequalities in coverage. Results: mDFPS among urban women ranged from 27% (95% CI: 23-31%) in Chad to 87% (95% CI: 84-89%) in Eswatini. We found significant inequalities in mDFPS with lower coverage among the poorest women in most countries. In North Africa, inequalities in mDFPS were identified only in Sudan, where coverage ranged between 7% (95% CI: 3-15%) among the poorest and 52% (95% CI: 49-56%) among the wealthiest. The largest gap in the Eastern and Southern African was found in Angola; 6% (95% CI: 3-11%) among the poorest and 46% (95% CI: 41-51%) among the wealthiest. In West and Central Africa, large gaps were found for almost all countries, especially in Central African Republic, where mDFPS was 11% (95% CI: 7-18%) among the poorest and 47% (95% CI: 41-53%) among the wealthiest. Inequalities by type of method were also observed for urban poor, with an overall pattern of lower use of long-acting and permanent methods. Our ecological analyses showed that the higher the proportion of the population living in informal settlements, the lower the mDFPS and the higher the inequalities. Conclusion: Our results rise the need for more focus on the urban-poorer women by public policies and programs. Future interventions developed by national governments and international organizations should consider the interconnection between urbanization, poverty, and reproductive health.

Project description:The aim of the study was to analyse trends in the relationship between mother's educational level and mortality of children under the year of five in Sub-Saharan Africa, from 1990 to 2015.Data used in this study came from different waves of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of Sub-Saharan countries. Logistic regression and Buis's decomposition method were used to explore the effect of mother's educational level on the mortality of children under five years.Although the results of our study in the selected countries show that under-five mortality rates of children born to mothers without formal education are higher than the mortality rates of children of educated mothers, it appears that differences in mortality were reduced over the past two decades. In selected countries for our study, we noticed a significant decline in mortality among children of non-educated mothers compared to the decrease in mortality rates among children of educated mothers during the period of 1990-2010. The results show that the decline in mortality of children under five years was much higher among the children born to mothers who have never received formal education-112 points drop in Malawi, over 80 in Zambia and Zimbabwe, 65 points in Burkina Faso, 56 in Congo, 43 in Namibia, 27 in Guinea, Cameroon, and 22 to 15 in Niger. However, we noted a variation in results among the countries selected for the study-in Burkina Faso (OR = 0.7), in Cameroon (OR = 0.8), in Guinea (OR = 0.8) and Niger (OR = 0.8). It is normally observed that children of mothers with 0-6 years of education are about 20% more likely to survive until their fifth year compared to children of mothers who have not been to school. Conversely, the results did not reveal significant differences between the under-five deaths of children born to non-educated mothers and children of low-level educated mothers in Congo, Malawi and Namibia.The decline in under-five mortality rates, during last two decades, can be partly due to the government policies on women's education. It is evident that women's educational level has resulted in increased maternal awareness about infant health and hygiene, thereby bringing about a decline in the under-five mortality rates. This reduction is due to improved supply of health care programmes and health policies in reducing economic inequalities and increasing access to health care.

Project description:BackgroundBreast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer among women in low-resourced countries. Reduction of its impacts is achievable with regular screening and early detection. The main aim of the study was to examine the role of wealth stratified inequality in the utilisation breast cancer screening (BCS) services and identified potential factors contribute to the observed inequalities.MethodsA population-based cross-sectional multi-country analysis was used to study the utilisation of BCS services. Regression-based decomposition analyses were applied to examine the magnitude of the impact of inequalities on the utilisation of BCS services and to identify potential factors contributing to these outcomes. Observations from 140,974 women aged greater than or equal to 40 years were used in the analysis from 14 low-resource countries from the latest available national-level Demographic and Health Surveys (2008-09 to 2016).ResultsThe population-weighted mean utilisation of BCS services was low at 15.41% (95% CI: 15.22, 15.60), varying from 80.82% in European countries to 25.26% in South American countries, 16.95% in North American countries, 15.06% in Asia and 13.84% in African countries. Women with higher socioeconomic status (SES) had higher utilisation of BCS services (15%) than those with lower SES (9%). A high degree of inequality in accessing and the use of BCS services existed in all study countries across geographical areas. Older women, access to limited mass media communication, being insured, rurality and low wealth score were found to be significantly associated with lower utilisation of BCS services. Together they explained approximately 60% in the total inequality in utilisation of BCS services.ConclusionsThe level of wealth relates to the inequality in accessing BCS amongst reproductive women in these 14 low-resource countries. The findings may assist policymakers to develop risk-pooling financial mechanisms and design strategies to increase community awareness of BCS services. These strategies may contribute to reducing inequalities associated with achieving higher rates of the utilisation of BCS services.

Project description:Despite reductions in malaria incidence and mortality across Sub-Saharan (SSA) countries, malaria control and elimination efforts are currently facing multiple global challenges such as climate and land use change, invasive vectors, and disruptions in healthcare delivery. Although relationships between malaria risks and socioeconomic factors have been widely demonstrated, the strengths and variability of these associations have not been quantified across SSA. In this study, we used data from population-based malaria indicator surveys in SSA countries to assess spatial trends in relative and absolute socioeconomic inequalities, analyzed as social (mothers' highest educational level-MHEL) and economic (wealth index-WI) inequalities in malaria prevalence. To capture spatial variations in socioeconomic (represented by both WI and MHEL) inequalities in malaria, we calculated both the Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and Relative Index of Inequality (RII) in each administrative region. We also conducted cluster analyses based on Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) to consider the spatial auto-correlation in SII and RII across regions and countries. A total of 47,404 participants in 1874 Primary Sampling Units (PSU) were analyzed across the 13 SSA countries. Our multi-country assessment provides estimations of strong socioeconomic inequalities between and within SSA countries. Such within- and between- countries inequalities varied greatly according to the socioeconomic metric and the scale used. Countries located in Eastern Africa showed a higher median Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and Relative Index of Inequality (RII) in malaria prevalence relative to WI in comparison to countries in other locations across SSA. Pockets of high SII in malaria prevalence in relation to WI and MHEL were observed in the East part of Africa. This study was able to map this wide range of malaria inequality metrics at a very local scale and highlighted the spatial clustering patterns of pockets of high and low malaria inequality values.

Project description:ObjectivesThe burden and highest regional prevalence of anaemia is reported in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The study evaluated changes in anaemia prevalence across the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) periods in SSA and reported factors influencing observed changes in the trend.MethodThe study was implemented by a two-stage cross-sectional stratified sampling approach. The study involved women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in sub-Saharan Africa countries (Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, and Benin) using two different periods of their demographic health surveys (DHS) data. The study adopted both descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The chi-square test was used to determine the existence of a statistically significant relationship between the outcome and predictor variables and test the observed changes in anaemia. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted on each survey year and the pooled dataset for eligible study countries. Multivariate decomposition analysis was performed to explain how compositional changes and behavioural effects of women characteristics affected the changes in anaemia prevalence. The study reported frequencies, percentages and odds ratios along with their 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsGhana and Sierra Leone experienced 17.07% [95% CI: 14.76-19.37, p < 0.001] and 1% [95% CI: 1.0-2.9, p > 0.05] of anaemia decrease from period 1 to period 2, respectively, while Mali and Benin experienced 11% [95% CI: 9.14-12.90, p < 0.001] and 16.7% [95% CI: 14.99-18.5, p < 0.001] of increase in anaemia prevalence from period 1 to period 2, respectively. Behavioural effects explained the decrease in Ghana and the increase in Benin and Mali while endowments or compositional changes explained the decrease in Sierra Leone.ConclusionAnaemia continues to pose a significant challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, there is an imperative need to scale up the implementation of nutrition-related programmes and advocacies to ensure optimum changes in women nutrition-related behaviours.

Project description:IntroductionCoverage of health interventions usually shows social gradients with higher levels among wealthy than among poor individuals. Owing to the upsurge of vaccine hesitancy in high-income countries, the authors hypothesized that the social gradient may also be changing over time in the low- and middle-income countries and set out to test this hypothesis.MethodsIn January 2020, surveys conducted from 2010 to 2018 in 86 low- and middle-income countries were analyzed to assess full immunization coverage in children aged 12-23 months. The authors calculated full immunization coverage point estimates and 95% CIs for each country and wealth quintile. To explore wealth-related inequalities, the authors estimated the slope index of inequality and calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient between these values and per capita gross domestic product. Time trends were analyzed in 10 countries with recent evidence of hesitancy.ResultsPro-poor patterns were defined as significant slope index of inequality values with higher coverage among poor children, and pro-rich patterns were defined as the reverse pattern. A total of 11 countries showed pro-poor patterns in the most recent survey, accounting for 20% of upper middle- and 7% of low-income countries. The correlation between the slope index of inequality and log per capita gross domestic product was -0.38 (p<0.001). Among the 10 countries with recent evidence of hesitancy, 5 showed full immunization coverage declines over time in the wealthiest quintiles, and 4 switched from pro-rich to pro-poor patterns throughout the years.ConclusionsLower full immunization coverage was found among the wealthy than among the poor in 10 countries, especially in the upper middle-income group, consistent with the emergence of vaccine hesitancy.Supplement informationThis article is part of a supplement entitled Global Vaccination Equity, which is sponsored by the Global Institute for Vaccine Equity at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Project description:BackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) launched an initiative to plan for the sustainability of integrated community case management (iCCM) programmes supported by the Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) Programme in five African countries in 2016. WHO contracted experts to facilitate sustainability planning among Ministries of Health, WHO, nongovernmental organisation grantees, and other stakeholders.MethodsWe designed an iterative and unique process for each RAcE project area which involved creating a sustainability framework to guide planning; convening meetings to identify and prioritise elements of the framework; forming technical working groups to build country ownership; and, ultimately, creating roadmaps to guide efforts to fully transfer ownership of the iCCM programmes to host countries. For this analysis, we compared priorities identified in roadmaps across RAcE project sites, examined progress against roadmaps via transition plans, and produced recommendations for short-term actions based on roadmap priorities that were unaddressed or needed further attention.ResultsThis article describes the sustainability planning process, roadmap priorities, progress against roadmaps, and recommendations made for each project area. We found a few patterns among the prioritised roadmap elements. Overall, every project area identified priorities related to policy and coordination of external stakeholders including funders; supply chain management; service delivery and referral system; and communication and social mobilisation, indicating that these factors have persisted despite iCCM programme maturity, and are also of concern to new programmes. We also found that a facilitated process to identify and document programme priorities in roadmaps, along with deliberately planning for transition from an external implementer to a national system could support the sustainability of iCCM programmes by facilitating teams of stakeholders to accomplish explicit tasks related to transitioning the programme.ConclusionsCertain common elements are of concern for sustaining iCCM programmes across countries, among them political leadership, supply chain management, data processes, human resources, and community engagement. Adapting and using a sustainability planning approach created an inclusive and comprehensive dialogue about systemic factors that influence the sustainability of iCCM services and facilitated changes to health systems in each country.

Dataset Information

Inequalities in reproductive health care use in five West-African countries: A decomposition analysis of the wealth-based gaps.

Publications

Inequalities in reproductive health care use in five West-African countries: A decomposition analysis of the wealth-based gaps.

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