Factors associated with use of maternal healthcare services during the Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Studies have focused on both individual and community factors affecting the use of maternal healthcare services. However, studies in Nigeria have rarely examined whether the influence of individual and community factors in explaining the use of maternal healthcare has changed in the context of the Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria. This study investigates factors associated with the use of maternal healthcare services during the Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria. The study analysed data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Results showed that some individual characteristics are no longer associated with the use of maternal healthcare services, compared to community characteristics which are. Humanitarian assistance to the region should take this into account when considering interventions to encourage better uptake of maternal healthcare services.

KEYWORDS:

• Antenatal care attendance
• postnatal check-up
• maternal healthcare services
• North-East Nigeria
• Boko Haram

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to MEASURE DHS for providing authorization to download and analyse the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bola Lukman Solanke

Bola Lukman Solanke is a Senior Lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, where he obtained his degrees in Demography and Social Statistics. He was trained as a URC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. In his research and publications over the years, he has maintained focus on fertility and reproductive health issues with particular interest in maternal health and gender-based violence.