Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Department of Behavioural Sciences, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
PLoS One. 2019 May 9;14(5):e0216027. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216027. eCollection 2019.
Maternal mortality rates are still unacceptably high in many countries, indicating violation of women´s human right to life and health. Access to adequate information about maternal health rights and available services are essential aspects of realizing women´s right to accessible health care. This study aimed at assessing awareness of the right to access maternal health services among women who had recently given birth, and the association between such awareness and the utilization of maternal health services in two districts in Tanzania.
This study was cross sectional in design. Interviews were conducted with women who gave birth within one year prior to the survey in two different district councils (DC) namely Hai DC and Morogoro DC, selected purposively based on the earlier reported rates of maternal mortality. We used a two-stage cluster sampling to select the study sample. Analysis employed Chi-square test and Logistic regression.
A total of 547 respondents were interviewed. Only a third (34.4%) reported to be aware of their right to access maternal health services. Main sources of information on maternal health rights were the media and health care providers. Occupation and education level showed a statistically significant association with awareness of access rights. Hai DC had higher proportion of women aware of their access rights compared to Morogoro DC. Women who were aware of their right of access were almost 5 times more likely to use skilled birth attendants compared to those who were not (AOR 4.61 95% CI: 2.14-8.57).
Awareness of the right to access maternal health services was low in the studied population. To increase awareness and hence uptake of Pregnancy care and skilled birth attendants at delivery we recommend the government and partners to prioritize provision of information, communication and education on women´s human rights, including the right to access maternal health services, especially to women in rural areas.
在许多国家，产妇死亡率仍然高得令人无法接受，这表明妇女的生命权和健康权受到了侵犯。获得有关产妇健康权利和可用服务的充分信息是实现妇女获得可及保健服务权利的重要方面。本研究旨在评估最近分娩的妇女对获得产妇保健服务权利的认识，以及这种认识与在坦桑尼亚两个地区利用产妇保健服务之间的关系。
这是一项横断面研究设计。在 Hai 区理事会和 Morogoro 区理事会这两个不同的区理事会中，我们对在调查前一年分娩的妇女进行了访谈，这两个区理事会是根据先前报告的产妇死亡率选择的。我们采用两阶段聚类抽样选择研究样本。分析采用卡方检验和逻辑回归。
共访谈了 547 名受访者。只有三分之一（34.4%）的人报告说知道自己有权获得产妇保健服务。获得产妇健康权利信息的主要来源是媒体和医疗保健提供者。职业和教育水平与获得权利的意识呈统计学显著关联。与 Morogoro 区理事会相比，Hai 区理事会的妇女更有可能意识到自己的获得权利。与不知道自己有权利的妇女相比，知道自己有权利的妇女使用熟练接生员的可能性几乎高出 5 倍（AOR 4.61 95%CI：2.14-8.57）。
在所研究的人群中，对获得产妇保健服务权利的认识很低。为了提高认识，从而增加对妊娠护理和熟练接生员的利用，我们建议政府和合作伙伴优先提供关于妇女人权的信息、交流和教育，包括获得产妇保健服务的权利，特别是向农村地区的妇女提供。
