ArticleBMJ open2021
Relationship between maternal healthcare utilisation and empowerment among women in Bangladesh: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Impact of Women's Agency on Accessing and Using Maternal Healthcare Services: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Factors Influencing Timing of First Antenatal Care Visit Among Bangladeshi Women: Application of Accelerated Failure Time Models Using Demographic Health Survey 2022.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Effects of Maternal Empowerment on Childhood Undernutrition in Bangladesh: Findings from Nationally Representative Surveys.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Women's empowerment and health: nationwide insights on selected non-communicable conditions in Bangladesh.BMC public health · 2026Article
- SWPER-Measured women's empowerment and mental health in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study from 2022 demographic and health survey.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Article
- Intimate partner violence and the dual burden of anxiety and depression among women in Zambia: Spatial inequalities and implications for the sustainable development goals.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Regional variations in prevalence and factors associated with maternal healthcare services utilisation in Nigeria.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Women empowerment and hypertension in Nepal: a nationally representative survey analysis.Journal of public health policy · 2025Article
- Understanding the issues of women's empowerment and fertility in Bangladesh.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Article
- Association between women's empowerment and use of modern contraception methods in Bangladesh: evidence from Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2022.Contraception and reproductive medicine · 2025Article
- The association of women's empowerment dimensions and antenatal care utilization in Ethiopia; facility based cross-sectional study.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Effects of Women's Participation in Household Decision Making on Skilled Birth Attendants Supervised Delivery in Bangladesh.Health services insights · 2025Article
- Adaptation and psychometric assessment of a sexual and reproductive empowerment scale in Arabic among refugee and non-refugee adolescent girls.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Article
- Role of women empowerment on mental health problems and care-seeking behavior among married women in Nepal: secondary analysis of nationally representative data.Archives of women's mental health · 2024Article
- The individual- and community-level women's empowerment and utilization of maternity care services in Afghanistan: a multilevel cross-validation study.International health · 2024Article
- Women's empowerment and child anthropometric failures across 28 sub-Saharan African countries: A cross-level interaction by Gender Inequality Index.SSM - population health · 2024Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the relationship between women's empowerment and maternal healthcare utilisation in Bangladesh.
designThis cross-sectional study uses data from the most recent nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2017-2018.
settingBangladesh.
participantsMarried women aged 15-49 years who had a live birth within the 3 years preceding the survey (n=4767). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Women's empowerment was measured using the recently developed and validated survey-based Women's emPowERment (SWPER) index. The index includes three domains: social independence, decision-making and attitude to violence. Outcomes included utilisation of at least one antenatal care from skilled providers (ANC1), at least four antenatal care visits (≥4 ANC), delivery assisted by a skilled birth attendant (SBA) and a postnatal visit within 2 days of delivery (PNC). Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the identified relationships.
resultsAmong participants, 83% received ANC1, 46.3% received ≥4 ANC, 51.9% reported SBA and 50.9% sought PNC. Women with high levels of social empowerment relative to those with low levels were more likely to use ANC1 (adjusted OR (AOR) 1.85; 95% CI 1.40 to 2.45), ≥4 ANC (AOR 1.55; 95% CI 1.27 to 1.90), SBA (AOR 2.12; 95% CI 1.71 to 2.62) and PNC (AOR 1.95; 95% CI 1.56 to 2.44). Compared with women with low levels of decision-making empowerment, women with high levels were more likely to use SBA (AOR 1.49; 95% CI 1.21 to 1.83) and PNC (AOR 1.47; 95% CI 1.19 to 1.81). Additionally, significant inequality was observed among women moving from low to high empowerment in all domains of the empowerment index.
conclusionsHigher empowerment levels were positively associated with maternal healthcare utilisation in Bangladesh. Our findings suggest the need to address women's empowerment in policies aiming to expand health service utilisation.
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