SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
Barriers to Accessing Maternal Care in Low Income Countries in Africa: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 188 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
188 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Sociocultural and health system determinants of maternal mortality in Ghana: findings from a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Male partner involvement in ANC to increase institutional delivery and postnatal care utilization in developing countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- Informing the Development of Tailored Antenatal Care Services for Pregnant Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Stakeholder Survey.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Barriers to timely and adequate antenatal care: a systematic review of socioeconomic, cultural, psychosocial, and health-system factors across high and low resource settings.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- Preferences of women for maternal healthcare services in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review of discrete choice experiments.BMJ global health · 2025Pooled it
- Under-five mortality and social determinants in africa: a systematic review.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Socioeconomic inequalities in access to maternal healthcare in South-Asian countries: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Equity in prenatal healthcare services globally: an umbrella review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Pooled it
- Barriers in utilization and provisioning of obstetric care services (OCS) in India: a mixed-methods systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Pooled it
- Facility-Based Maternal Quality of Care Frameworks: A Systematic Review and Best Fit Framework Analysis.Maternal and child health journal · 2023Pooled it
- Stated Preference Research in Reproductive and Maternal Healthcare Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.The patient · 2022Pooled it
- Maternal health service utilization in the Jimma Zone, Ethiopia: results from a baseline study for mobile phone messaging interventions.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Effectiveness of engaging religious leaders in maternal health education for improving maternal health service utilization in Ethiopia: cluster randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Effects of a community-level intervention on maternal health care utilization in a resource-poor setting of Northern Ghana.BMC public health · 2023Trial
- Socio-digital stratification and the threshold effects of digital inclusion on maternal health access in Somalia.Global health action · 2026Article
- Inequalities in maternal health service utilisation in Somalia: analysis of the 2020 Somali health and demographic survey.Global health action · 2026Article
- Article
- Frontline healthcare worker barriers impacting tuberculosis service demand and access in high burden settings: a scoping review.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Estimating the impact and cost-effectiveness of antenatal care approaches in 24 low- and middle-income countries: a modelling study.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
128 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to 2030 aim to reduce maternal mortality and provide equitable access to maternal healthcare. Compromised access to maternal health facilities in low-income countries, and specifically in Africa, contribute to the increased prevalence of maternal mortality. We conducted a systematic review to investigate access barriers to maternal health in low-income countries in Africa since 2015, from the perspective of both community members and health providers. The findings show that the most important barriers to maternal health are transportation barriers to health facilities, economic factors, and cultural beliefs, in addition to lack of family support and poor quality of care. Further research is required to guide policymakers towards firm multi-sectoral action to ensure appropriate and equitable access to maternal health in line with the SDGs to 2030.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.