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Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana

This paper examines how organization and financing of maternal health services influence health-seeking behavior in Bosomtwe district, Ghana. It contributes in furthering the discussions on maternal health-seeking behavior and health outcomes from a health system perspective in sub-Saharan Africa. F...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Aboagye, Emmanuel, Agyemang, Otuo Serebour
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Canadian Center of Science and Education 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4776872/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23985108
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v5n5p67
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author Aboagye, Emmanuel
Agyemang, Otuo Serebour
author_facet Aboagye, Emmanuel
Agyemang, Otuo Serebour
author_sort Aboagye, Emmanuel
collection PubMed
description This paper examines how organization and financing of maternal health services influence health-seeking behavior in Bosomtwe district, Ghana. It contributes in furthering the discussions on maternal health-seeking behavior and health outcomes from a health system perspective in sub-Saharan Africa. From a health system standpoint, the paper first presents the resources, organization and financing of maternal health service in Ghana, and later uses case study examples to explain how Ghana's health system has shaped maternal health-seeking behavior of women in the district. The paper employs a qualitative case study technique to build a complex and holistic picture, and report detailed views of the women in their natural setting. A purposeful sampling technique is applied to select 16 women in the district for this study. Through face-to-face interviews and group discussions with the selected women, comprehensive and in-depth information on health- seeking behavior and health outcomes are elicited for the analysis. The study highlights that characteristics embedded in decentralization and provision of free maternal health care influence health-seeking behavior. Particularly, the use of antenatal care has increased after the delivery exemption policy in Ghana. Interestingly, the study also reveals certain social structures, which influence women's attitude towards their decisions and choices of health facilities.
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spelling pubmed-47768722016-04-21 Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana Aboagye, Emmanuel Agyemang, Otuo Serebour Glob J Health Sci Articles This paper examines how organization and financing of maternal health services influence health-seeking behavior in Bosomtwe district, Ghana. It contributes in furthering the discussions on maternal health-seeking behavior and health outcomes from a health system perspective in sub-Saharan Africa. From a health system standpoint, the paper first presents the resources, organization and financing of maternal health service in Ghana, and later uses case study examples to explain how Ghana's health system has shaped maternal health-seeking behavior of women in the district. The paper employs a qualitative case study technique to build a complex and holistic picture, and report detailed views of the women in their natural setting. A purposeful sampling technique is applied to select 16 women in the district for this study. Through face-to-face interviews and group discussions with the selected women, comprehensive and in-depth information on health- seeking behavior and health outcomes are elicited for the analysis. The study highlights that characteristics embedded in decentralization and provision of free maternal health care influence health-seeking behavior. Particularly, the use of antenatal care has increased after the delivery exemption policy in Ghana. Interestingly, the study also reveals certain social structures, which influence women's attitude towards their decisions and choices of health facilities. Canadian Center of Science and Education 2013-09 2013-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4776872/ /pubmed/23985108 http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v5n5p67 Text en Copyright: © Canadian Center of Science and Education http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Articles
Aboagye, Emmanuel
Agyemang, Otuo Serebour
Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana
title Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana
title_full Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana
title_fullStr Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana
title_short Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior: The Role of Financing and Organization of Health Services in Ghana
title_sort maternal health-seeking behavior: the role of financing and organization of health services in ghana
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4776872/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23985108
http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v5n5p67
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