Cross-sectional study uncovers determinants of maternal healthcare use in refugee women, highlighting the need for transport support and structural camp interventions.
Key Points
To identify individual, social, and structural determinants influencing the utilization of antenatal care, skilled delivery, and postnatal care services among refugee women.
Conducted a cross-sectional analytical census of 410 refugee women aged 15–49 with a pregnancy within the preceding two years across Krisan and Ampain refugee camps in Ghana.
Collected data using structured interviewer-administered questionnaires with camp location modeled as a fixed effect.
Evaluated determinants of antenatal care (≥4 visits) using Firth's penalized likelihood logistic regression, and skilled delivery and postnatal care using multivariable logistic regression.
Only 6.1% of women attended ≥4 antenatal visits (93.9% attended <4 visits), while 72.4% delivered with a skilled attendant and 31.0% utilized postnatal care.
Antenatal care attendance of ≥4 visits was significantly higher in Krisan Camp (AOR = 9.54; 95% CI: 1.68–54.30) and with transport support (AOR = 4.31; 95% CI: 1.12–16.58), but lower among women with trustful social networks (AOR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.11–0.96).
Postnatal care use was higher among Muslim women (AOR = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.15–3.55) and lower among married women (AOR = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.39–0.98), while secondary or higher education was associated with lower skilled delivery odds (AOR = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.31–0.99).