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A comparative analysis of the use of maternal health services between teenagers and older mothers in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)

Magadi, Monica Akinyi; Agwanda, Alfred O.; Obare, Francis O.

Authors

Monica Akinyi Magadi

Alfred O. Agwanda

Francis O. Obare



Abstract

This paper uses Demographic and Health Surveys data from 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to examine the use of maternal health services by teenagers. A comparison of maternal health care between teenagers and older women, based on bivariate analysis shows little variation in maternal health care by age. However, after controlling for the effect of background factors such as parity, premarital births, educational attainment and urban/rural residence in a multivariate analysis, there is evidence that teenagers have poorer maternal health care than older women with similar background characteristics. The results from multilevel logistic models applied to pooled data across countries show that teenagers are generally more likely to receive inadequate antenatal care and have non-professional deliveries. An examination of country-level variations shows significant differences in the levels of maternal health care across countries. However, there is no evidence of significant variations across countries in the observed patterns of maternal health care by maternal age. This suggests that the observed patterns by maternal age are generalizable across the sub-Saharan Africa region.

Citation

Magadi, M. A., Agwanda, A. O., & Obare, F. O. (2007). A comparative analysis of the use of maternal health services between teenagers and older mothers in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). Social science & medicine, 64(6), 1311-1325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.11.004

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Dec 14, 2006
Publication Date 2007-03
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
Print ISSN 0277-9536
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 64
Issue 6
Pages 1311-1325
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.11.004
Keywords Maternal health care; Sub-Saharan Africa; Teenagers; Multilevel models; Antenatal care; Delivery care
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/417699
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953606005752?via%3Dihub