Poverty and access to maternal health care in Tajikistan

Abstract

Using recently available survey data for Tajikistan, this paper investigates changes in the pattern of maternal health care over the last decade, and the extent to which inequalities in access to that care have emerged. In particular, the link between poverty, women's education status and the utilisation of maternal health services is investigated. The results demonstrate a significant decline in the use of maternal health services in Tajikistan since independence, as well as changes in the location of delivery and type of person providing assistance, with a clear shift away from giving birth in a health facility toward giving birth at home. Over two-fifths of all women who gave birth in the year prior to the survey in 1999 had a home delivery. There are clear differences in access by socio-economic status with women from the poorest quintile being three times more likely to experience a home delivery with no trained assistance than women from the richest quintile