BackgroundThe burden of malaria in terms of morbidity and mortality is huge is Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among pregnant women. Among the measures to curb down this burden include intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) and effective case management. These strategies were adopted by Ghana and implemented since 2003; however, there is still high dropout rate in IPT coverage. This study sought to investigate factors contributing to high dropout rate between IPT1 and IPT3 in the Tamale Metropolis, one of the health facilities with the highest IPT dropout rates in Ghana.MethodsSurvey, in-depth interviews and short ethnographic techniques were conducted among pregnant women, antenatal care (ANC) health workers and heads of health facilities to investigate factors which account for dropout rate of intermittent treatment of malaria.ResultsShortage of sulphadoxine pyrimethamine (SP), inadequate supply of portable water for administration of SP, unavailability of IPT during outreach services, lack of knowledge by ANC staff about the dropout rate in their area of jurisdiction and poor attitude of some health workers were identified as barriers to achieving high IPT3 coverage.ConclusionsLate ANC visit, provider and logistical barriers account for the women’s missed opportunities to prevent malaria in pregnancy through IPT. Addressing the above barriers will contribute to saving lives and ensuring progress towards the goal of combating malaria as well as reducing maternal, neonatal and child mortalities.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-016-2265-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background High-risk fertility behaviours such as too early or advanced age at delivery, shorter birth interval, birth order and a higher number of live births to a woman often lead to adverse maternal and child health outcomes. We assessed high-risk fertility behaviours and their associated factors among women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods Data on 200 716 women pooled from the demographic and health surveys of 27 countries conducted between 2010 and 2020 in SSA were analysed. High-risk fertility behaviour from four indicators, mother aged <18 years at the time of delivery; mother aged >34 years at the time of delivery; mother of a child born after a short birth interval (<24 months) and mother of high parity (>3 children), was derived. Multi-level multi-variable logistic regression analyses were carried out and the results were presented as adjusted odds ratios at 95% confidence interval. Results Women who were in polygamous marriages had higher odds of single and multiple high-risk fertility behaviour compared with their counterparts who were in monogamous marriages. Women with middle or high maternal decision-making power had higher odds of single and multiple high-risk fertility behaviours compared with those with low decision-making power. Single and multiple high-risk fertility behaviours were lower among women with access to family planning, those with at least primary education and those whose partners had at least primary education compared with their counterparts who had no access to family planning, those with no formal education and those whose partners had no formal education. Conclusion Family structure, women’s decision-making power, access to family planning, women’s level of education and partners’ level of education were identified as predictors of high-risk fertility behaviours in SSA. These findings are crucial in addressing maternal health and fertility challenges. Policy makers, maternal health and fertility stakeholders in countries with high prevalence of high parity and short birth intervals should organize programs that will help to reduce the prevalence of these high-risk factors, taking into consideration the factors that predispose women to high-risk fertility behaviours.

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Background The World Health Organisation recommends that all mothers seek postnatal care (PNC) within the first two months after childbirth. This study examined PNC utilisation for babies within the first two months after childbirth. Methods We used data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) (2018–2020) of eleven countries in SSA. Descriptive and a multivariate analysis were carried out, and presented in adjusted odds ratios. The explanatory variables included: age, place of residence, level of formal education, wealth quintile, antenatal care visits, marital status, frequency of watching TV, listening to radio and reading newspaper, getting permission to go medical help for self, getting money needed for treatment, and distance to facility. Results PNC utilisation was 37.5% and 33% in urban and rural residences, respectively. Higher level of education (Urban: AOR = 1.39, CI = 1.25, 1.56; Rural: AOR = 1.31, CI = 1.10, 1.58), 4 or more ANC visits (Urban: AOR = 1.32, CI = 1.23, 1.40; Rural: AOR = 1.49, CI = 1.43, 1.56 0.86), requiring permission to go to the health facility (Urban: AOR = 0.67, CI = 0.61, 0.74; Rural: AOR = 0.86, CI = 0.81, 0.91), listening to the radio at least once a week (Urban: AOR = 1.32, CI = 1.23, 1.41; Rural: AOR = 0.86, CI = 0.77, 0.95), and watching television at least once a week (Urban: AOR = 1.11, CI = 1.03, 1.21; Rural: AOR = 1.15, CI = 1.07, 1.24) were significantly associated with PNC service utilisation in both rural and urban areas. However, belonging to a richer wealth status (AOR = 1.11, CI = 1.02, 1.20) and having a problem with distance (AOR = 1.13, CI = 1.07, 1.18) were significant in only rural areas, while having a problem with money for treatment was significant only in urban areas (AOR = 1.15, CI = 1.08, 1.23). Conclusion In this study, we conclude that the PNC service utilisation within the first 2 months after delivery was low across rural and urban residences. There is, therefore, a need for SSA countries to develop population tailored interventions such as advocacy and health education targeted at women with no formal education in both rural and urban areas. Our study also suggests that SSA countries must intensify radio programs and advertisements on the health benefits of PNC to improve maternal and child health.

Background: There has been growing interest about how ethnic ties predict health outcomes and health-seeking behaviour. The study sought to examine the influence of women’s ethnic identity on CS delivery. Methods: We analysed data from Ghana's 2017 Maternal Health Survey with the help of Stata (version 17). Descriptive analysis was used to estimate the prevalence of CS deliveries. Multivariate analysis was then used to determine the links between ethnicity and other explanatory variables, and CS delivery, using logistic regression. The results were presented in an adjusted odds ratio with its corresponding confidence interval. Results: The overall prevalence of delivery by CS was 12.4%. Gruma women had a lower likelihood of delivery by CS than Akan women. The odds of delivery by CS were 10.18 times higher for women aged 45 – 49 years than those aged 15 – 19 years old. Women with higher education were more likely to opt for CS delivery than those with no education. CS utilization was 2.54 times higher in women with the richest wealth status than those with the poorest wealth status. Also, women who read newspapers at least once a week had higher odds of CS delivery than those who do not read the newspaper or magazine at all. Conclusion: We conclude that researchers need to consider the cultural influences that could confound women’s decisions on CS uptake in places where ethnicity is salient in everyday discourse. In policy-wise, we recommend that in developing intervention programmes to enhance optimum utilization of delivery by CS in Ghana, policymakers need to take a critical look at the cultural milieu of these interventions if they want to achieve the intended purposes, as well as enhance our capacity to achieve SDG 3.2.