ArticleHealth policy and planning2017
A new use for an old tool: maternity waiting homes to improve equity in rural childbirth care. Results from a cross-sectional hospital and community survey in Tanzania.
Article in Health policy and planning, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Impact of travel time to health facilities on perinatal outcomes: a systematic review with narrative synthesis and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2026Pooled it
- Intention to use maternal waiting home and its predictors among pregnant women in Ethiopia: systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of medical research · 2023Pooled it
- Stakeholders' perspectives on the acceptability and feasibility of maternity waiting homes: a qualitative synthesis.Reproductive health · 2023Pooled it
- Maternity Waiting Home Interventions as a Strategy for Improving Birth Outcomes: A Scoping Review and Meta-Analysis.Annals of global health · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of maternity waiting homes on perinatal mortality is inconclusive: a critical appraisal of existing evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa.BMC research notes · 2021Pooled it
- The significant association between maternity waiting homes utilization and perinatal mortality in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC research notes · 2019Pooled it
- Factors associated with maternity waiting home use among women in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia: a multilevel cross-sectional analysis.BMJ open · 2019Trial
- Prevalence and risk factors of home delivery among rural women: evidence from 28 African countries.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Unraveling the hidden expenses of free delivery services: a cross-sectional analysis of the public health facilities of the Harari Region, Ethiopia.BMC health services research · 2025Article
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- Implementation fidelity of a multisite maternity waiting homes programme in rural Zambia: application of the conceptual framework for implementation fidelity to a complex, hybrid-design study.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Inequalities in use of hospitals for childbirth among rural women in sub-Saharan Africa: a comparative analysis of 18 countries using Demographic and Health Survey data.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Utilization and determinants of maternity waiting homes among pastoralist mothers in Dire district, southern Ethiopia: a mixed-methods study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Article
- Magnitude and factors influencing pastoralist women's maternity waiting home utilization in Teltelle district, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.Health science reports · 2023Article
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- Utilization of pregnant women waiting area and associated factors among mothers at Damboya District, Kembata Tembaro Zone, Southern Ethiopia.The Pan African medical journal · 2023Article
- Understanding maternity waiting home uptake and scale-up within low-income and middle-income countries: a programme theory from a realist review and synthesis.BMJ global health · 2022Review
- Article
- No increase in use of hospitals for childbirth in Tanzania over 25 years: Accumulation of inequity among poor, rural, high parity women.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Limited quality of childbirth care in sub-Saharan Africa primarily affects the poor. Greater quality is available in facilities providing advanced management of childbirth complications. We aimed to determine whether Maternity Waiting Homes (MWHs) may be a tool to improve access of lower socio-economic women to such facilities. Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional hospital survey from Iringa District, Tanzania was carried out. Women who delivered between October 2011 and May 2012 in the only District facility providing comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care were interviewed. Their socio-economic profile was obtained by comparison with District representative data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare women who had stayed in the MWH before delivery with those who had accessed the hospital directly. Out of 1072 study participants, 31.3% had accessed the MWH. In multivariable analysis, age, education, marital status and obstetric factors were not significantly associated with MWH stay. Adjusted odds ratios for MWH stay increased progressively with distance from the hospital (women living 6-25 km, OR 4.38; 26-50 km, OR 4.90; >50 km, OR 5.12). In adjusted analysis, poorer women were more likely to access the MWH before hospital delivery compared with the wealthiest quintile (OR 1.38). Policy makers should consider MWH as a tool to mitigate inequity in rural childbirth care.
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