Asian Research Thesis Index

Abstract

In this study, we explore the relationship between women's antenatal health seeking behavior with their socio-economic characteristics. Data is taken from Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Only those countries are considered, where data for DHS-6 was available. The dataset span 40 countries and is representative at first tier sub-national level. Only latest birth for each woman is considered as responses for questions related to that pregnancy are less likely to be influenced by memory bias. The sample size consists of 143,639 women. The study use Anderson's model to investigate which factors have the most potent association with improved antenatal health care behavior. Both quantitative and qualitative aspects of visits to physician are modeled. Results show that women having any say in the matters of their health care are 1.42 times more likely to visits physician than their counterparts with no decision making power. Similarly, women in highest wealth quintile are 4.3 times more likely to complete a set of 4 antenatal visits, as recommended by WHO, than women in lowest wealth quintile. We also find that health seeking behavior slightly differ for male and female child and also for working and non-working women. On the qualitative side, we find that women are most likely to let their blood pressure being checked .and least likely to administer a urine test. We also find that women with previous fetal losses and those whose BMI value fall outside normal range are likely to opt for high quality checkup during visits to physician

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