Maternal Health Care Behaviour in Nigeria: the role of female autonomy.

Abstract

This paper examined the extent to which community-level female autonomy and other characteristics at individual and community levels influence antenatal care (ANC) attendance in Nigeria. A cross sectional data- the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and a sample of 16004 women aged 15-49 years were used in this study. Multilevel modelling was employed for data analysis. The results indicated that community-level female autonomy was significantly associated with ANC attendance. Women residing in high autonomous communities were more likely to attend four ANC visits. However, this association diminished net of other individual- and community-level factors. This finding illustrates that community–female autonomy does not affect ANC attendance independently but these effects are channeled through individual-level autonomy and other factors at both levels. There is the need to consider community female autonomy in future assessments of the total effects of women’s autonomy on maternal health care behaviour. To improve ANC attendance, in Nigeria, interventions to increase women’s autonomy, education and economic status at the community-level should be considered, particularly in disadvantaged communities of the country.