Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa
Abstract Background Previous studies on child marriage have revealed its association with adverse health behaviors and outcomes, such as increased fertility, reduced modern family planning, less safe delivery, mental health disorders, suicidal attempt, and ideation, poor socio-economic status, morbi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-06-01
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| Series: | BMC Health Services Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08117-9 |
| _version_ | 1811242188608110592 |
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| author | Bright Opoku Ahinkorah Eugene Budu Abdul-Aziz Seidu Obasanjo Afolabi Bolarinwa Ebenezer Agbaglo Collins Adu Francis Arthur-Holmes Nandeeta Samad Sanni Yaya |
| author_facet | Bright Opoku Ahinkorah Eugene Budu Abdul-Aziz Seidu Obasanjo Afolabi Bolarinwa Ebenezer Agbaglo Collins Adu Francis Arthur-Holmes Nandeeta Samad Sanni Yaya |
| author_sort | Bright Opoku Ahinkorah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Previous studies on child marriage have revealed its association with adverse health behaviors and outcomes, such as increased fertility, reduced modern family planning, less safe delivery, mental health disorders, suicidal attempt, and ideation, poor socio-economic status, morbidity, and mortality of children under- five. In this study, we investigate the association between child marriage and the utilization of maternal healthcare services in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods We utilized data from 29 sub-Saharan African countries’ Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2010 and 2018. A total of 36,215 childbearing young women between the ages of 20-24 years constituted our sample size. A multilevel binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to examine the association between child marriage and the utilization of maternal healthcare services, and the results were presented as crude and adjusted odds ratios at 95% confidence interval. Results Young women who experienced child marriage were less likely to have ≥4 antenatal care visits during pregnancy [cOR = 0.60, CI = 0.57-0.63] compared to those who did not experience child marriage, and this was persistent after controlling for individual and community-level factors [aOR = 0.88, CI = 0.84-0.93]. Young women who experienced child marriage were less likely to use skilled birth attendance during delivery [cOR = 0.45, CI = 0.43-0.48] compared to those who did not experience child marriage, and this was persistent after controlling for individual and community-level factors [aOR = 0.87, CI = 0.82-0.93]. Young women who experienced child marriage were less likely to use postnatal care services [cOR = 0.79, CI = 0.75-0.82] compared to those who did not experience child marriage, but this was insignificant after controlling for individual and community-level factors. Conclusion Our study found child marriage to be a major contributor to the low use of maternal healthcare services, including antenatal care visit and the use of skilled birth attendance during child delivery. Hence, there is a need to develop an intervention to address child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa and strengthen existing ones. In addition, framework that considers child marriage as a key determinant of maternal healthcare utilization must be developed as part of policies in sub-Saharan African countries to enable universal achievement of low maternal mortality ratio by 2030 as a target of the Sustainable Development Goals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:48:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0f1c0583d5c4458ba047d582419e9a59 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6963 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:48:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Health Services Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-0f1c0583d5c4458ba047d582419e9a592022-12-22T03:30:37ZengBMCBMC Health Services Research1472-69632022-06-0122111510.1186/s12913-022-08117-9Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan AfricaBright Opoku Ahinkorah0Eugene Budu1Abdul-Aziz Seidu2Obasanjo Afolabi Bolarinwa3Ebenezer Agbaglo4Collins Adu5Francis Arthur-Holmes6Nandeeta Samad7Sanni Yaya8School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology SydneyDepartment of Population and Health, University of Cape CoastDepartment of Population and Health, University of Cape CoastDiscipline of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-NatalDepartment of English, University of Cape CoastCollege of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook UniversityDepartment of Sociology and Social Policy, Lingnan UniversityDepartment of Public Health, North South UniversitySchool of International Development and Global Studies, University of OttawaAbstract Background Previous studies on child marriage have revealed its association with adverse health behaviors and outcomes, such as increased fertility, reduced modern family planning, less safe delivery, mental health disorders, suicidal attempt, and ideation, poor socio-economic status, morbidity, and mortality of children under- five. In this study, we investigate the association between child marriage and the utilization of maternal healthcare services in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods We utilized data from 29 sub-Saharan African countries’ Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2010 and 2018. A total of 36,215 childbearing young women between the ages of 20-24 years constituted our sample size. A multilevel binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to examine the association between child marriage and the utilization of maternal healthcare services, and the results were presented as crude and adjusted odds ratios at 95% confidence interval. Results Young women who experienced child marriage were less likely to have ≥4 antenatal care visits during pregnancy [cOR = 0.60, CI = 0.57-0.63] compared to those who did not experience child marriage, and this was persistent after controlling for individual and community-level factors [aOR = 0.88, CI = 0.84-0.93]. Young women who experienced child marriage were less likely to use skilled birth attendance during delivery [cOR = 0.45, CI = 0.43-0.48] compared to those who did not experience child marriage, and this was persistent after controlling for individual and community-level factors [aOR = 0.87, CI = 0.82-0.93]. Young women who experienced child marriage were less likely to use postnatal care services [cOR = 0.79, CI = 0.75-0.82] compared to those who did not experience child marriage, but this was insignificant after controlling for individual and community-level factors. Conclusion Our study found child marriage to be a major contributor to the low use of maternal healthcare services, including antenatal care visit and the use of skilled birth attendance during child delivery. Hence, there is a need to develop an intervention to address child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa and strengthen existing ones. In addition, framework that considers child marriage as a key determinant of maternal healthcare utilization must be developed as part of policies in sub-Saharan African countries to enable universal achievement of low maternal mortality ratio by 2030 as a target of the Sustainable Development Goals.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08117-9Child marriage; maternal healthcare utilizationsub-Saharan AfricaDHSGlobal Health |
| spellingShingle | Bright Opoku Ahinkorah Eugene Budu Abdul-Aziz Seidu Obasanjo Afolabi Bolarinwa Ebenezer Agbaglo Collins Adu Francis Arthur-Holmes Nandeeta Samad Sanni Yaya Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa BMC Health Services Research Child marriage; maternal healthcare utilization sub-Saharan Africa DHS Global Health |
| title | Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | Girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | girl child marriage and its association with maternal healthcare services utilization in sub saharan africa |
| topic | Child marriage; maternal healthcare utilization sub-Saharan Africa DHS Global Health |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08117-9 |
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