Factors Associated with Utilization of Postnatal Care Services in Mali, West Africa

Authors

  • Bright Opoku Ahinkorah, MPhil School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
  • Abdul-Aziz Seidu, MPhil College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia; Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
  • Eugene Budu, MPhil Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
  • Ebenezer Kwesi Armah-Ansah, MPhil Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
  • Ebenezer Agbaglo, MPhil Department of English, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
  • Collins Adu, MPH Department of Health Promotion and Disability Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
  • Edward Kwabena Ameyaw, MPhil School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
  • Sanni Yaya, PhD, MSc School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21106/ijtmrph.318

Keywords:

Women’s health, Childbearing women, Mali, Maternal health, Postnatal care services utilization, Public health, Health insurance, Care utilization, Physical health, Mental health

Abstract

Background and Objective: Postnatal care is recognized as one of the most effective ways of preventing and managing physical and mental disabilities that occur during the postpartum period. Despite the importance of postnatal care, its utilization is low in Mali. The present study investigates factors associated with utilization of postnatal care services in Mali.

Methods: A total of 5,778 women who had complete information on all the variables of interest were included in our study. The data were analyzed with Stata version 14.2 by employing a multilevel logistic regression approach. The results were presented using adjusted odds ratios (aOR) at 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: We found that 25.18% of childbearing women in Mali utilized postnatal care. Women with no education (aOR=1.28, 95% CI=1.02-1.62) and those with primary level of education (OR=1.38, 95% CI=1.06- 1.81) had higher odds of postnatal care uptake, compared to those with secondary/higher education. On the contrary, postnatal care service utilization was lower among women who were not covered by health insurance (aOR=0.63, 95% CI=0.46-0.88), those who were not working (aOR=0.82, 95% CI=0.70-0.96), and those who were not exposed to mass media (aOR=0.80, 95% CI=0.70-0.93). Similarly, compared to women in the Mopti region, women in all other regions were less likely to utilize postnatal care services. Postnatal care service utilization was lower among women in communities with low educational level (aOR = 0.42, 95% CI=0.27-0.66) and medium socio-economic status (aOR=0.59, 95% CI=0.36-0.99).

Conclusion and Implications for Translation: The study revealed several individual, household and community level factors as predictors of utilization of postnatal care services in Mali. Public health interventions intended to improve postnatal care services uptake in Mali should pay attention to these factors. This will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3.1 which focuses on reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births by 2030.

 

Copyright © 2021 Ahinkorah et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.

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How to Cite

Ahinkorah, B. O., Seidu, A.-A. ., Budu, E. ., Armah-Ansah, E. K. ., Agbaglo, E., Adu, C. ., Ameyaw, E. K., & Yaya, S. (2021). Factors Associated with Utilization of Postnatal Care Services in Mali, West Africa. International Journal of Translational Medical Research and Public Health, 5(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.21106/ijtmrph.318

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Original Article

License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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