ArticleBMJ public health2026
Healthcare access barriers and maternal healthcare service uptake in 14 sub-Saharan African countries (2017-2021): a propensity score matched analysis.
Article in BMJ public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: The increasing inequality and multifaceted barriers to accessing maternal healthcare services play a significant role in the observed high maternal mortality ratios in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries compared with other regions. Evidence is required to understand the relationship between barriers to healthcare access and the utilisation of maternal healthcare services. This study aims to assess the role of healthcare access barriers in the uptake of maternal health services in SSA. Methods: We used a cross-sectional, demographic and health survey data from 14 SSA countries. We included 31 940 (31 553 weighted) reproductive-age women who had given birth in the year preceding the survey. Healthcare access barrier was an exposure variable and considered when a woman reported at least one of the following four concerns limiting access to healthcare services during illness: (1) difficulty obtaining permission to visit health facility, (2) financial challenges in covering healthcare expenses or treatment costs, (3) having significant travel distance to reach a health facility and (4) reluctance not wanting to visit facilities alone. We used χ Results: Almost three-fifths (60.2%) of women in the SSA (95% CI; 53.7% to 66.7%) reported barriers to accessing healthcare services. Barriers to accessing healthcare were associated with an 8-percentage point reduction in the likelihood of having a health facility childbirth (ATT: -0.08; SE: 0.016). However, there was insufficient evidence for differences in the uptake of ANC visit and PNC visit between the treatment (women with access barriers) and control groups. Post-matching tests confirmed that covariates were well balanced, and hidden biases were substantially reduced. Conclusion: The presence of barriers to healthcare access is negatively associated with the utilisation of health facility childbirth in SSA countries. These findings underscore the need for public health programmes that address the primary barriers to healthcare access, including financial constraints and physical accessibility, to enhance childbirth outcomes in health facilities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.