Does unwanted pregnancy lead to adverse health and healthcare utilization for mother and child? Evidence from low- and middle-income countries

Mohammad Hajizadeh and Hong Son Nghiem

International Journal of Public Health, 2020, vol. 65, issue 4, No 10, 457-468

Abstract: Abstract Objectives Unwanted pregnancy is an important public health concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Using a pooled dataset from 48 Demographic Health Surveys conducted in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe (n = 494,778), we examined the effect of unwanted pregnancy on maternal and child healthcare utilization and child health outcomes in LMICs. Methods We used logistic regression models to estimate the effect of unwanted pregnancy on antenatal care use, supervised delivery, childhood vaccination and three indicators of child health, viz. stunting (height-for-age), underweight (weight-for-age) and wasting (weight-for-height). Results We found that mothers of children whose pregnancies had been unwanted had a lower probability of attending four or more antenatal care visits by 3.6% (95% confidence interval = 1.9–5.4%) compared to those whose pregnancy was wanted. We did not find significant impacts of unwanted pregnancy on supervised delivery, childhood vaccination uptake or child health indicators. Conclusions Birth characteristics, household-level determinants and country-level characteristics seem to be more closely related to maternal and child healthcare utilization as well as child health outcomes than whether the pregnancy was wanted or unwanted in LMICs.

Keywords: Unwanted pregnancy; Maternal and child healthcare; Child health; Low- and middle-income countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s00038-020-01358-7

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