Factors that Influence Women’s Place of Delivery in the Wa West District

Abstract

Utilisation of health service during delivery is an important predictor of maternal and child health. This study identifies factors that influence women’s place of last delivery in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. A cross sectional study design was used. A quantitative study, involved 384 women age 15 – 49 years and who had given birth three years prior to the study. Descriptive analyses which involved frequency tables and charts were used while binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between the dependent variable and predictors variables. Results are presented as odds ratios (OR) at 95% confidence interval. While content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Fifty–nine percent of women had their last delivery at a health facility. Multivariate analyses revealed that women who had 3 and 4 children parity, women with secondary education or higher, women traders and women who took between 1-2 km and 5 km or more from residence to reach health facility were more likely to deliver at health facility. The last place of delivery of the women had significant relationship with age, education and proximity to nearest health facility. The finding has important implication the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal five which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality should be tailored to address the needs of women with low educational status those with higher parity, those belonging to the traditional religious faith and those with no religion.