What explains the rural-urban inequalities in maternal health services
utilization in Tanzania? a Fairlie decomposition analysis
Abstract
Background: Maternal mortality remains a public health issue in
developing countries, with rural areas having higher rates compared to
urban areas. Since effective utilization of maternal health services has
the potential to reduce maternal mortality, this study measures the
factors contributing to the existing rural-urban differences in the
utilization of maternal health services in Tanzania Methods: We
used Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2015/2016 data. Multi-stage
stratified sampling was used to select study participants and we
estimated a Fairlie decomposition to understand factors that contribute
to inequality in maternal health services utilization between rural and
urban areas in Tanzania using Stata 17. Results: The study
findings revealed a considerably wide rural-urban disparity in the
utilization of maternal health services. As the findings indicated,
household wealth status is the major factor for that disparity. Other
factors are women’s exposure to the media, women’s working status, and
distance from the homesteads to the health facilities.
Conclusion: Therefore, any policy geared toward bridging the
gap between rural and urban areas in the utilization of maternal health
services should focus on empowering women in terms of household economic
status, media exposure, and employment.