Intra-regional variations and contextual effects on facility-based delivery in Bangladesh: A multi-level analysis

Abstract

We examined intra-regional variations and contextual influences on institutional delivery of women using the nationally representative 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data. Due to the hierarchical structure of the data, we employed multi-level logistic regression analysis. Of the women who had had a live birth in the last three years preceding the survey, only 38% availed the opportunity of institutional delivery. From the findings of this study, we observed that women of the Eastern region were less likely and those of the Western region were more likely to use FBD compared to the women of the Central region. Both individual- and community-level factors influence women to use facility-based delivery. Community-level programs aimed at improving availability and easy accessibility to economically deprived and geographically disadvantaged areas may increase safe motherhood practices among women.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Dr. Amy Ong Tsui, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health in the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population, and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for her valuable feedback in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.