Socioeconomic Inequality in Maternal Healthcare Services: The Case of Tanzania

Abstract

Low utilisation of maternal healthcare among women in developing countries increases the health risk of the child and mother during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. It is in this context that this study intends to assess socioeconomic inequalities in maternal healthcare utilisation in Tanzania using the 2004/05, 2010, and 2015/16 Demographic and Health Survey. We first use the Concentration index to measure the presence of inequalities. Thereafter, we execute decomposition analysis to examine contributing factors of inequality in maternal healthcare utilization. Results from the Concentration index indicate that there is pro-rich inequality in maternal health utilisation and has increased over time. Meanwhile, the decomposition analysis reveals that household wealth status and women's education level contribute to the observed inequality. This could be due to the long distance to the health facilities, inadequate capacity of health facilities, and sociocultural barriers. We thus recommend that maternal healthcare in Tanzania should target the less privileged pregnant women to redress the inequality problem and ultimately alleviate maternal and child death rates in Tanzania.