scholarly journals Utilization of maternal health services among adolescent women in Bangladesh: A scoping review of the literature

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 822-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. M. Shahabuddin ◽  
Thérèse Delvaux ◽  
Saloua Abouchadi ◽  
Malabika Sarker ◽  
Vincent De Brouwere
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Stirling Cameron ◽  
Benjamin DuPlessis ◽  
Megan Aston ◽  
Howard Ramos ◽  
Lois Jackson

Abstract Background: The postnatal period is a critical time when women may need access to formal maternal health services (e.g., family physicians) and informal supports (e.g., family, friends). Resettled refugee women often encounter a myriad of barriers and challenges when attempting to access these services and supports in resettlement countries, including language and communication differences, socioeconomic constraints, challenges navigating foreign healthcare systems, and reduced social support networks. This has contributed to health inequities among postnatal resettled refugee women, including low self-reported health, five-times higher rates of postpartum depression, and social isolation. The purpose of this review is to understand access to formal maternal health services and informal supports for resettled refugee women during the postnatal period. Methods: This review will be conducted in accordance with JBI methodology for scoping reviews. A comprehensive search strategy, developed with a librarian scientist, will be used to identify relevant sources. Titles, abstracts, and full texts will be evaluated against inclusion criteria. Evidence from peer-reviewed and gray literature published after 2003 will be included. This review will focus only on studies conducted in middle- and high-income resettlement countries. Information will be extracted by two independent reviewers using a screening tool. Data will be synthesized and presented narratively, with tables and figures where appropriate. Discussion: This scoping review will provide an overview of resettled refugee women’s experiences during the postnatal period, with a focus on understanding access to health services and the availability and use of informal supports. It is expected that this review will outline both the barriers and facilitators affecting resettled refugee women seeking formal and informal care during the postnatal period. Findings will help to inform policy direction and future interventions seeking to improve postnatal care for resettled refugee women.Systematic Review Registration: This scoping review protocol has been registered with the Open Science Framework database, https://osf.io/rkqj6.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adweeti Nepal ◽  
Santa Kumar Dangol ◽  
Anke van der Kwaak

Abstract Background The persistent quality gap in maternal health services in Nepal has resulted in poor maternal health outcomes. Accordingly, the Government of Nepal (GoN) has placed emphasis on responsive and accountable maternal health services and initiated social accountability interventions as a strategical approach simultaneously. This review critically explores the social accountability interventions in maternal health services in Nepal and its outcomes by analyzing existing evidence to contribute to the informed policy formulation process. Methods A literature review and desk study undertaken between December 2018 and May 2019. An adapted framework of social accountability by Lodenstein et al. was used for critical analysis of the existing literature between January 2000 and May 2019 from Nepal and other low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) that have similar operational context to Nepal. The literature was searched and extracted from database such as PubMed and ScienceDirect, and web search engines such as Google Scholar using defined keywords. Results The study found various social accountability interventions that have been initiated by GoN and external development partners in maternal health services in Nepal. Evidence from Nepal and other LMICs showed that the social accountability interventions improved the quality of maternal health services by improving health system responsiveness, enhancing community ownership, addressing inequalities and enabling the community to influence the policy decision-making process. Strong gender norms, caste-hierarchy system, socio-political and economic context and weak enforceability mechanism in the health system are found to be the major contextual factors influencing community engagement in social accountability interventions in Nepal. Conclusions Social accountability interventions have potential to improve the quality of maternal health services in Nepal. The critical factor for successful outcomes in maternal health services is quality implementation of interventions. Similarly, continuous effort is needed from policymakers to strengthen monitoring and regulatory mechanism of the health system and decentralization process, to improve access to the information and to establish proper complaints and feedback system from the community to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the interventions. Furthermore, more study needs to be conducted to evaluate the impact of the existing social accountability interventions in improving maternal health services in Nepal.


Author(s):  
Chengfang Liu ◽  
Linxiu Zhang ◽  
Yaojiang Shi ◽  
Huan ZHOU ◽  
Alexis Medina ◽  
...  

Purpose Many public health systems have struggled with the dual questions of (1) why the uptake rate of maternal health services is low among some subpopulations; and (2) how to raise it. The objective of this study is to assess the uptake rate of a new set of maternal health services in poor rural areas of China. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on the survey responses of women’s representatives and village cadres from almost 1000 villages in June 2012 as part of a wide-scale public health survey in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces in the western part of China. Findings We find that the uptake rate of maternal health services (including in-hospital delivery, antenatal care visits and post-partum care visits) in poor rural areas of western China are far below average in China, and that the rates vary across provinces and ethnic groups. Our analyses demonstrate that distance, income, ethnicity and availability appear to be systematically correlated with low uptake rates of all maternal health services. Demand-side factors seem to be by far the most important sources of the differences between subpopulations. We also find that there is potential for creating a Conditional Cash Transfer program to improve the usage of maternal health services. Originality/value We believe that our results will contribute positively to the exploration of answers to the dual questions that many public health systems have struggled with (1) why the uptake rate of maternal health services is low among some subpopulations; and (2) how to raise it.


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