Determinants of perceived quality of health care among pregnant women in Ifo, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria's health system is among the weakest globally, characterized by doctors' and nurses' concentration in a few tertiary facilities in the cities. Simultaneously, rural areas that constitute over 70% of the population suffer from acute health personnel and inadequate health facilities. Whether Nigeria can achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) of access to quality essential health care by 2030 if this situation continues. Therefore, this study provides unique insights on socio-demographic and environmental determinants of quality of health care and treatment choice among women in the Ifo Local Government Area (LGA), a predominantly rural area, in Ogun State, Nigeria. It employed the 2018 cross-sectional survey data collected using a multi-stage sampling technique. A total of 1350 pregnant women aged 20-44 who attended antenatal care during the study period were interviewed. Multicollinearity diagnostics of explanatory variables showed that variance inflation factor, eigenvalues, and the condition index values were within accepted thresholds. Findings showed that the predictors of perceived quality of care were the age of respondents, level of education, type of house lived in, the number of persons in the house, type of toilet facility, primary source of water supply, waste disposal practices, and husband's level of education. Statistically significant predictors of treatment choice included husband's occupation, number of living children, type of house respondent lived in, type of toilet facility, and primary water supply source. These predictors are useful for designing policies and program activities for achieving improved quality of maternal health care at the community level and the attainment of SDG 3 for the country by 2030. (Afr J Reprod Health 2021; 25[5s]: 28-45).