Browsing by Author "Gyan-Baffour, Akosua Owusu"

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    The dynamic effect of household wealth on maternal health care utilization in Ghana
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2016) Gyan-Baffour, Akosua Owusu
    Globally, an estimated 287 000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth related complications every year. Ghana has experienced high Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR) especially in the 1990s which have been associated to failure of utilization of Maternal Health Care services, often blamed on cost of these services. To solve this problem free maternal service was introduced. Despite tremendous improvement in the MMR in Ghana, the rateis still about 3 times higher than the set target. The objective of this study was two-folds: (1) to investigate the differential effects of household wealth on maternal health care and (2) to examine the dynamics in the effects of household wealth on maternal health care utilization over time. The data for this study was extracted from the 2008 and 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS). Logit model was used to estimate the effects of the explanatory variables on the explained variables, depending on the nature of the latter. The study found household wealth as a key determinant of Antenatal Care, hospital Delivery choice and Postnatal Care. Women in the richer health quintile had a positive and significant influence on the use of MHC whilewomen in the poorer wealth quintile had an insignificant or lower magnitude of effect on the use of MHC services. This implies that at higher levels of wealth, women utilize MHC services more than at lower levels. Therefore to encourage women in poorer wealth quintiles, financial aids like LEAP could be provided.