Wang, H;
Frasco, E;
Takesue, R;
Tang, K;
(2021)
Maternal education level and maternal healthcare utilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: an analysis of the multiple indicator cluster survey 2017/18.
BMC Health Services Research
, 21
(1)
, Article 850. 10.1186/s12913-021-06854-x.
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Abstract
Background Understanding how socioeconomic factors influence maternal health services utilization is crucial to reducing preventable maternal deaths in the DRC. Maternal education is considered an important associate of maternal health service utilization. This study aims to investigate the association between maternal education and the utilization of maternal health services, as well as present geographical and socio-economic disparities in the utilization. Methods The MICS survey was employed as the data source, which is a nationally representative survey conducted from 2017 to 2018 in the DRC. The exposure for this study was the maternal education level, which was categorized into three groups: (1) below primary and none, (2) primary and (3) secondary and above. Prenatal care indicators included: if the mother ever received prenatal care, if the mother had antenatal checks no less than four times, and if a skilled attendant was present at birth. Postnatal care indicators included: if the mother received postnatal care and if the baby was checked after birth. Emergency obstetric interventions were indicted by cesarean sections. Descriptive analyses and logistic regressions were used as analytical methods. Results Of all 8,560 participants included, 21.88 % had below primary school or no education, 39.81 % had primary school education, and 38.31 % had secondary education or above. The majority of participants were from rural areas, except for Kinshasa. Overall, a better education was associated with higher utilization of antenatal care. A dose-response effect was also observed. Compared to women with below primary or no education, women with secondary and above education were more likely to receive cesarean sections. Wealth status, as well as rural and urban division, modified the associations. Conclusions Mothers’ education level is an important associate for utilizing appropriate maternal healthcare, with wealth and region as modifying factors. Educational levels should be considered when designing public health interventions and women’s empowerment programs in the DRC. For example, relevant programs need to stratify the interventions according to educational attainment.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Maternal education level and maternal healthcare utilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: an analysis of the multiple indicator cluster survey 2017/18 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12913-021-06854-x |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06854-x |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Health Care Sciences & Services, Maternal Education, Maternal Health Utilization, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Social Determinants of Health, CESAREAN DELIVERY, OBSTETRIC CARE, COUNTRIES, SECTION, ACCESS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10137758 |
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