Determinants of maternal health care services utilization in Pakistan: evidence from Pakistan demographic and health survey, 2012–13

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the association between maternal utilisation of health-care services and socio-demographic factors among reproductive-age women in Pakistan. We used the sample of ever-married reproductive-age women (n = 7446) from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), 2012–13. We measured maternal utilisation of health-care services by using three dependent variables: number of antenatal care (ANC) visits, delivery assistance by a skilled health provider, and delivery in a health-care facility. Around 36.6% of women had made four or more ANC visits, 59% had received assistance from skilled health providers during delivery, and 55.3% had given birth in a health-care facility. On multivariable logistic regression, all three variables were positively associated with education and wealth, and negatively associated with birth order and women’s autonomy. Policymakers and health planners may use our findings to develop efficient strategies, particularly for uneducated women and those with poor economic status, to improve the utilisation of maternal health-care services in Pakistan.

Keywords:

• Maternal health care
• Pakistan
• demographic and health survey
• antenatal care
• skilled birth assistance
• facility-based delivery

Acknowledgements

We greatly acknowledge the Measure DHS for providing PDHS data.

Ethical considerations

The study is based on secondary analysis of Pakistan demographic and health survey data. Since we used publically available secondary data from Measure DHS, we did not require ethical approval from the relevant institutions.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.