Betregiorgis Zegeye1, Ziad El-Khatib2,3,4, Edward Kwabena Ameyaw5, Abdul-Aziz Seidu6,7, Bright Opoku Ahinkorah5, Mpho Keetile8, Sanni Yaya9,10. 1. HaSET Maternal and Child Health Research Program, Shewarobit Field Office, Shewarobit P.O. Box 127, Ethiopia. 2. Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. 3. Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria. 4. World Health Programme, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), Rouyn-Noranda, QC J9L 2K1, Canada. 5. School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. 6. Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, PMB 0494, Ghana. 7. College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia. 8. Department of Population Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Botswana, Private Bag UB 0022, Gaborone, Botswana. 9. School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada. 10. The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, UK.
Abstract
Background: In low-income countries such as Benin, most people have poor access to healthcare services. There is scarcity of evidence about barriers to accessing healthcare services in Benin. Therefore, we examined the magnitude of the problem of access to healthcare services and its associated factors. Methods: We utilized data from the 2017-2018 Benin Demographic and Health Survey (n = 15,928). We examined the associations between the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of women using multilevel logistic regression. The outcome variable for the study was problem of access to healthcare service. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. Results: Overall, 60.4% of surveyed women had problems in accessing healthcare services. Partner's education (AOR = 0.70; 95% CI; 0.55-0.89), economic status (AOR = 0.59; 95% CI; 0.47-0.73), marital status (AOR = 0.44; 95% CI; 0.39-0.51), and parity (AOR = 1.85; 95% CI; 1.45-2.35) were significant individual-level factors associated with problem of access to healthcare. Region (AOR = 5.24; 95% CI; 3.18-8.64) and community literacy level (AOR = 0.69; 95% CI; 0.51-0.94) were the main community-level risk factors. Conclusions: Enhancing husband education through adult education programs, economic empowerment of women, enhancing national education coverage, and providing priority for unmarried and multipara women need to be considered. Additionally, there is the need to ensure equity-based access to healthcare services across regions.
Background: In low-income countries such as Benin, most people have poor access to healthcare services. There is scarcity of evidence about barriers to accessing healthcare services in Benin. Therefore, we examined the magnitude of the problem of access to healthcare services and its associated factors. Methods: We utilized data from the 2017-2018 Benin Demographic and Health Survey (n = 15,928). We examined the associations between the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of women using multilevel logistic regression. The outcome variable for the study was problem of access to healthcare service. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. Results: Overall, 60.4% of surveyed women had problems in accessing healthcare services. Partner's education (AOR = 0.70; 95% CI; 0.55-0.89), economic status (AOR = 0.59; 95% CI; 0.47-0.73), marital status (AOR = 0.44; 95% CI; 0.39-0.51), and parity (AOR = 1.85; 95% CI; 1.45-2.35) were significant individual-level factors associated with problem of access to healthcare. Region (AOR = 5.24; 95% CI; 3.18-8.64) and community literacy level (AOR = 0.69; 95% CI; 0.51-0.94) were the main community-level risk factors. Conclusions: Enhancing husband education through adult education programs, economic empowerment of women, enhancing national education coverage, and providing priority for unmarried and multipara women need to be considered. Additionally, there is the need to ensure equity-based access to healthcare services across regions.
Authors: Ashley N Corallo; Ruth Croxford; David C Goodman; Elisabeth L Bryan; Divya Srivastava; Therese A Stukel Journal: Health Policy Date: 2013-08-23 Impact factor: 2.980