Assessing access barriers to maternal health care: measuring bypassing to identify health centre needs in rural Uganda.
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND In low income countries, several barriers exist to the use of health services for child delivery, including distance, transportation, informal costs or low perceived quality. Yet there is rarely information about which barriers are more or less important to the use of a given health facility. This study assessed the relative importance of different barriers to maternal health facility use in rural Uganda through the use of simple indicators based on locally available data. METHODS Data from public health facilities performing deliveries in a rural district were used along with census information to construct a set of indicators useful for diagnosing barriers to delivery service use. Indicators included the number of facility-based deliveries per 1000 women served, the proportion of users from a facility's local area, and a new indicator, the 'bypassing ratio', defined as the number of women from a facility's local area who delivered in other facilities, divided by the number of local women using the facility itself. RESULTS Numbers of deliveries varied greatly between facilities of the same level. A few very low use facilities saw over 75% of women come from the local area, while other facilities services attracted a large majority of women from other areas. The phenomenon of bypassing provides additional insight into the relative importance of distance or transport as opposed to internal facility factors preventing use. CONCLUSIONS Simple and easily replicable tools are essential to assist health managers to identify communities and facilities needing improvements in access to delivery care. The methods developed in this paper could be utilized by local officials in other areas to assist planning and improvement of both maternal care and other health services.
منابع مشابه
Perceived Barriers to Utilizing Maternal and Neonatal Health Services in Contracted-Out Versus Government-Managed Health Facilities in the Rural Districts of Pakistan
Background A number of developing countries have contracted out public health facilities to the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in order to improve service utilization. However, there is a paucity of in-depth qualitative information on barriers to access services as a result of contracting from service users’ perspective. The objective of this study was to explore perceived barriers to util...
متن کاملBypassing birthing centres for child birth: a community-based study in rural Chitwan Nepal
BACKGROUND Child delivery in a health facility is important to reduce maternal mortality. Bypassing nearby birthing facility to deliver at a hospital is common in developing countries including Nepal. Very little is known about the extent and determinants of bypassing the birthing centres in Nepal. This study measures the status of bypassing, characteristics of bypassers and their reasons for b...
متن کاملImproving Maternal and Child Healthcare Programme Using Community-Participatory Interventions in Ebonyi State Nigeria
In Nigeria, the government is implementing the Free Maternal and Child Health Care Programme (FMCHCP). The policy is premised on the notion that financial barriers are one of the most important constraints to equitable access and use of skilled maternal and child healthcare. In Ebonyi State, Southeastern Nigeria the FMCHCP is experiencing implementation challenges including: inadequate human re...
متن کاملAccess to primary health care for Australian young people: service provider perspectives.
BACKGROUND To adequately address the complex health needs of young people, their access to services, and the quality of services received, must be improved. AIMS To explore the barriers to service provision for young people and to identify the training needs of primary healthcare service providers in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. DESIGN OF STUDY A cross-sectional, qualitative study of t...
متن کاملExploring inequalities in access to and use of maternal health services in South Africa
BACKGROUND South Africa's maternal mortality rate (625 deaths/100,000 live births) is high for a middle-income country, although over 90% of pregnant women utilize maternal health services. Alongside HIV/AIDS, barriers to Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care currently impede the country's Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. While healt...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Health policy and planning
دوره 24 5 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2009