ArticleHealth policy and planning2021
Explaining socioeconomic disparities and gaps in the use of antenatal care services in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in Health policy and planning, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- HIV-related mortality time trends among children and young adolescents on antiretroviral therapy by age, treatment duration, and region: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis.The lancet. HIV · 2025Pooled it
- Maternal screening coverage and determinants during facility-based antenatal care in Nigeria: analysis of the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Wealth-based inequality in maternal health service utilization among ever-married women of reproductive age in Somaliland; secondary analysis of the 2020 Demographic and Health Survey.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Utilization, satisfaction, and perceived maternal health benefits of group antenatal care in Karu LGA, North Central, Nigeria.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Influence of paternal education on maternal and child health outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from demographic and health surveys.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Spatial variation, pooled prevalence, and factors associated with perinatal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, evidence from demographic and health surveys 2015-2023: a geospatial regression approach.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
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- Wealth disparities in maternal health service utilization among women of reproductive age in Ethiopia: findings from the mini-EDHS 2019.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Understanding Socioeconomic Inequalities in Zero-Dose Children for Vaccination in Underserved Settings of Ethiopia: Decomposition Analysis Approach.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
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- Is socioeconomic inequality in antenatal care coverage widening or reducing between- and within-socioeconomic groups? A case of 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.SSM - population health · 2023Article
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- The effects of community-based interventions on the uptake of selected maternal and child health services: experiences of the IMCHA project in Iringa Tanzania, 2015-2020.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- Socio-economic disadvantage and quality Antenatal Care (ANC) in Sierra Leone: Evidence from Demographic and Health Survey.PloS one · 2023Article
- Input, process, and output factors contributing to quality of antenatal care services: a scoping review of evidence.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Decomposing socio-economic inequalities in antenatal care utilisation in 12 Southern African Development Community countries.SSM - population health · 2022Article
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2 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Significant maternal and child deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) even with existing effective interventions. Antenatal care (ANC), for example, is an intervention that improves the health of pregnant women and their babies, but only 52% of pregnant women in SSA had the recommended minimum of four ANC visits between 2011 and 2016. While significant socioeconomic inequalities in ANC visits have been reported to the disadvantage of the poor, little is known about the depth of ANC coverage and associated inequalities. This paper introduces 'deficits' (i.e. the number of ANC visits that are needed to reach the recommended minimum of four ANC visits) and 'surpluses' (i.e. the number of ANC visits over and above the recommended minimum of four ANC visits) to assess socioeconomic inequalities in the indicator and depth of the 'deficits' and 'surpluses' in ANC visits. Using the latest available Demographic and Health Survey data for 36 SSA countries and concentration indices, the paper found that 'deficits' in ANC visits are more prevalent among poorer women compared to 'surpluses' that are concentrated among the rich. On average, women with 'deficits' in ANC visits require about two more ANC visits to reach the recommended four ANC visits, and women with 'surpluses' exceeded the recommended minimum by about two ANC visits. The factors that explain a substantial share of the socioeconomic inequalities in ANC 'deficits' and 'surpluses' in SSA include wealth, education and area of residency, which are essentially the social determinants of health inequalities. For policy response, it is suggested that education is a significant channel to affect the other social determinants of inequalities in ANC coverage reported in the paper. Thus, countries must prioritize quality education as addressing education, especially among women in SSA, will significantly reduce disparities in ANC service utilization and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage.
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