The paper investigates the effect of adequate use of prenatal care on birth weight in Kenya using data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey of 2008 - 2009 together with additional administrative data. Both a single-level model and a multi-level model are estimated. The estimation...

Background: Early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding practices have been argued to be one of the important ways of ensuring child health. Unfortunately, owing to modernization, most nursing mothers fail to adhere to such practices. This is believed to be a factor...

The study investigates the effect of wealth on maternal health care utilization in Ghana via its effect on Antenatal care use. Antenatal care serves as the initial point of contact of expectant mothers to maternal health care providers before delivery. The study is pivoted on the introduction of...

Background: There is considerable interest in exploring the potential of social health insurance in Africa where a number of countries are currently experimenting with different approaches. Since these schemes have been introduced recently and are continuously evolving, it is important to...

Background: Malnutrition is a prevalent public health concern in Ghana. While studies have identified factors that influence child malnutrition and related inequalities in Ghana, very little efforts have been made to decompose these inequalities across various household characteristics. This...

Background: Morbidity and mortality due to pregnancy and childbearing are high in developing countries. This study aims to estimate patient and health system costs of managing pregnancy and birth-related complications in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was...

This study evaluates the impact of Sierra Leone’s 2010 Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI). It uses two nationally representative surveys to identify the impact of the policy on utilisation of maternal care services by pregnant women and recent mothers as well as the impact on curative health...

This paper seeks to identify the determinants of the choice of treatment of pregnant women in Cameroon. Theoretically, the methodology is based on a discrete choice model with random utility. Empirically, the econometric specification is a Nested Multinomial Logit Model. The data used comes from...

Introduction: This study is against the backdrop that despite the forty-nine percent decline in Maternal Mortality Rate in Ghana, the situation still remains high averaging 319 per 100,000 live births between 2011 and 2015. Objective: To examine the relationship between National Health Insurance...