scholarly journals Comparing the timeliness and adequacy of antenatal care uptake between women who married as child brides and adult brides in 20 sub-Saharan African countries

PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0262688
Author(s):  
Sunday A. Adedini ◽  
Sunday Matthew Abatan ◽  
Adesoji Dunsin Ogunsakin ◽  
Christiana Alake Alex-Ojei ◽  
Blessing Iretioluwa Babalola ◽  
...  

Context Considering the persistent poor maternal and child health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this study undertook a comparative analysis of the timing and adequacy of antenatal care uptake between women (aged 20–24 years) who married before age 18 and those who married at age 18 or above. Method Data came from Demographic and Health Surveys of 20 SSA countries. We performed binary logistic regression analysis on pooled data of women aged 20–24 (n = 33,630). Results Overall, the percentage of child brides in selected countries was 57.1%, with the lowest prevalence found in Rwanda (19.1%) and the highest rate in Chad (80.9%). Central and West African countries had the highest prevalence of child marriage compared to other sub-regions. Bivariate results indicate that a lower proportion of child brides (50.0%) had 4+ ANC visits compared to the adult brides (60.9%) and a lower percentage of them (34.0%) initiated ANC visits early compared to the adult brides (37.5%). After controlling for country of residence and selected socio-economic and demographic characteristics, multivariable results established significantly lower odds of having an adequate/prescribed number of ANC visits among women who married before age 15 (OR: 0.63, CI: 0.57–0.67, p<0.001), and women who married at ages 15–17 (OR: 0.81, CI: 0.75–0.84, p<0.001) compared to those who married at age 18+. Similar results were established between age at first marriage and timing of first ANC visit. Other interesting results emerged that young women who married earlier than age 18 and those who married at age 18+ differ significantly by several socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Conclusion Efforts to improve maternal and child health outcomes in SSA must give attention to address the underutilization and late start of antenatal care uptake among child brides.

2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
pp. 785-787
Author(s):  
Emily Oken ◽  
Ken P. Kleinman ◽  
Mandy B. Belfort ◽  
James K. Hammitt ◽  
Matthew W. Gillman

2017 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 49-55.e6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa C. Bartick ◽  
Briana J. Jegier ◽  
Brittany D. Green ◽  
Eleanor Bimla Schwarz ◽  
Arnold G. Reinhold ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Zhou ◽  
Yuju Wu ◽  
Chengfang Liu ◽  
Chang Sun ◽  
Yaojiang Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Empirical evidence suggests that the uptake of maternal and child health (MCH) services is still low in poor rural areas of China. There is concern that the low uptake of MCH services may detrimentally affect child health outcomes. Previous studies have not yet identified the exact nature of the impact that conditional cash transfers (CCT) have on the uptake of MCH services and ultimately, on child health outcomes. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between CCT, uptake of MCH services, and health outcomes among children in poor rural areas of western China.Methods: We designated two different sets of comparison villages and households that were used as comparison against which outcomes of the treated households could be assessed. In 2014 we conducted a large-scale survey of 1,522 households at 75 villages (including 25 treatment and 50 comparison) from nine nationally-designated poverty counties in two provinces of China. In each village, 21 households were selected based on their eligibility status for the CCT program. Difference-in-difference analyses were used to assess the impact of CCT on outcomes in terms of both Intention-to-treat (ITT) and average-treatment-effects-on-the-treated (ATT). Results: Overall, the uptake of MCH services in the sample households were low, especially in terms of post-partum care visits, early breast feeding, exclusive breast feeding, and physical examination of the baby. The uptake of the seven types of MCH services in the CCT treatment villages were significantly higher than that in the comparison villages. Results from both the ITT and ATT analyses showed the CCT program had a positive, although small, impact on the uptake of MCH services and the knowledge of mothers about MCH health issues. Nonetheless, the CCT program had no noticeable effect on child health outcomes.Conclusions: The CCT program generated modest improvements in the uptake of MCH services and mothers' knowledge of MCH services in poor rural areas of Western China. These improvements, however, did not translate into substantial improvements in child health outcomes for two possible reasons: poor CCT implementation and the low quality of rural health facilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol Volume 14 ◽  
pp. 4353-4360
Author(s):  
Mary Gorret Atim ◽  
Violet Dismas Kajogoo ◽  
Demeke Amare ◽  
Bibie Said ◽  
Melka Geleta ◽  
...  

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