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Background: Feminist scholarship is acutely aware that health is not dependent on behavioural choices alone but on interlocking social determinants that affect people's capacity to lead healthy lives. Women are situated within social structures that impact their health. but there is limited engagement with interpretive tools such as feminist theories that centre the realities of African women, particularly in the context of maternal health. It is imperative that women's control over their reproductive health and autonomy in seeking care, particularly skilled maternal healthcare are understood within this context. This study seeks to examine pregnant women's socio-cultural realities in a Nigerian context and in congruence with articulations of African feminism. Feminist scholarship acknowledges that women are situated within social structures that impact their health. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine pregnant women's socio-cultural realities in a Nigerian context and in congruence with articulations of African feminism. Method: This is a cross-sectional qualitative study of a total of 64 participants: 39 women and 25 men in Ewato and Okpekpe communities, two Local Government Areas of Edo State in southern Nigeria. The study presents findings from eight sex-and-age desegregated focus group discussions. This study reports on emergent data related to women's decision-making in accessing skilled maternal care. Data were transcribed and translated to English. Using the NVivo 1.6 software, data were coded and analyzed using a conventional approach to content analysis. Results: Findings describe ways in which women negotiate authority by ascribing the role of decision-maker to their men spouses while maintaining influence over their pregnancy healthcare decisions and actions. Negofeminism's concepts of alliance, community and connectedness were highlighted through men's constructive involvement in maternal health. Furthermore, women were shown to maneuver patriarchal norms to gain control of their healthcare decisions. Conclusion: This study offers a different narrative from the dominant view of non-Western women, specifically African women, as oppressed passive victims who are ineffectual in taking charge of their health. From the perspective of negofeminism, women navigate patriarchal environments to yield the best possible maternal health outcomes. The current study can be useful in informing policy and programming that acknowledges women's social embeddedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) services are critical for maternal health but Nigeria performs poorly in ANC utilisation compared to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to assess socioeconomic inequalities in ANC utilisation and the determinants of these inequalities in Nigeria.Methods: The 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data with 18,559 women was used for analysis. The paper used concentration curves and indices for different measures of ANC utilisation (no ANC visit, 1-3 ANC visits, at least four ANC visits, and the number of ANC visits). A positive (or negative) concentration index means that the measure of ANC utilisation was concentrated on the richer (poorer) population compared to their poorer (richer) counterparts. The concentration indices were also decomposed using standard methodologies to examine the significant determinants of the socioeconomic inequalities in no ANC visit, at least four ANC visits, and the number of ANC visits.Results: No ANC visit was disproportionately concentrated among the poor (concentration index (CI) = - 0.573), whereas at least four ANC visits (CI = 0.582) and a higher number of ANC visits (CI = 0.357) were disproportionately concentrated among the rich. While these results were consistent across all the geopolitical zones and rural and urban areas, the inequalities were more prevalent in the northern zones (which also have the highest incidence of poverty in the country) and the rural areas. The significant contributors to inequalities in ANC utilisation were the zone of residence, wealth, women's education (especially secondary) and employment, urban-rural residence, ethnicity, spousal education, and problems with obtaining permission to seek health care and distance to the clinic.Conclusions: Addressing wealth inequalities, enhancing literacy, employment and mitigating spatial impediments to health care use will reduce socioeconomic inequalities in ANC utilisation in Nigeria. These factors are the social determinants of health inequalities. Thus, a social determinants of health approach is needed to address socioeconomic inequalities in ANC coverage in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Achievement of improved maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes continues to be an issue of international priority, particularly for sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria. Evidence suggests that the use of Community Health Workers (CHWs) can be effective in broadening access to, and coverage of, health services and improving MCH outcomes in such countries.Methods/design: In this paper, we report the methodology for a 5-year study which aims to evaluate the context, processes, outcomes and longer-term sustainability of a Nigerian CHW scheme. Evaluation of complex interventions requires a comprehensive understanding of intervention context, mechanisms and outcomes. The multidisciplinary and mixed-method realist approach will facilitate such evaluation. A favourable policy environment within which the study is conducted will ensure the successful uptake of results into policy and practice. A realist evaluation provides an overall methodological framework for this multidisciplinary and mixed methods research, which will be undertaken in Anambra state. The study will draw upon health economics, social sciences and statistics. The study comprises three steps: (1) initial theory development; (2) theory validation and (3) theory refinement and development of lessons learned. Specific methods for data collection will include in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with purposefully identified key stakeholders (managers, service providers and service users), document reviews, analyses of quantitative data from the CHW programme and health information system, and a small-scale survey. The impact of the programme on key output and outcome indicators will be assessed through an interrupted time-series analysis (ITS) of monthly quantitative data from health information system and programme reports. Ethics approvals for this study were obtained from the University of Leeds and the University of Nigeria.Discussion: This study will provide a timely and important contribution to health systems strengthening specifically within Anambra state in southeast Nigeria but also more widely across Nigeria. This paper should be of interest to researchers who are interested in adapting and applying robust methodologies for assessing complex health system interventions. The paper will also be useful to policymakers and practitioners who are interested in commissioning and engaging in such complex evaluations to inform policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health care visits during pregnancy, childbirth and after childbirth may be crucial in expanding the uptake of contraceptive care in resource-poor settings. However, little is known about how health care visits influence the uptake of modern contraception in Nigeria. The focus of this paper was to examine how health care visits influence the use of contraceptives among parous women in a medically underserved setting.Methods: The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Data was collected from 411 women who gave birth between 2010 and 2015 selected through a two-stage cluster random sampling technique. Health care visits for antenatal care services, childbirth, postnatal care and modern contraceptive were dichotomised (yes, no). Descriptive analyses were performed, and percentages, frequencies and means were reported. Multiple logistic regressions were computed, and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.Results: Knowledge of all contraceptive methods was lowest among women who reside in rural areas. Health care visits for antenatal care (UOR 4.5; 95% CI 2.0-10.5), childbirth (UOR2.1; 95% CI 1.4-3.2) and postnatal care services (UOR 2.3; 95% CI 1.5-3.5) independently predict ever use of any contraceptive methods. Likewise, health care visits for antenatal care (UOR 5.6; 95% CI 2.1-14.8), childbirth (UOR 2.3; 95% CI 1.5-3.6) and postnatal care services (UOR 2.8; 95% CI 1.8-4.5) were independent predictors of current use of modern contraceptive methods. In the adjusted model, health care visits for antenatal care services (AOR 3.2; 95% CI 1.1-8.8) were significantly associated with the use of modern contraceptive methods.Conclusion: Health care visits significantly predict the use of modern contraceptive methods. Expanding access to health care services would potentially increase contraceptive use among childbearing women in the medically underserved settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Significant knowledge gaps exist in the functioning of institutional designs and organisational practices in purchasing within free healthcare schemes in low resource countries. The study provides evidence of the governance requirements to scale up strategic purchasing in free healthcare policies in Nigeria and other low-resource settings facing similar approaches.Methods: The study was conducted at the Ministry of Health and in two health districts in Enugu State, Nigeria, using a qualitative case study design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 key health system actors (16 policymakers, 16 providers and 12 health facility committee leaders) purposively selected from the Ministry of Health and the two health districts. Data collection and analysis were guided by Siddiqi and colleagues' health system governance framework. Data were analysed using a framework approach.Results: The key findings show that supportive governance practices in purchasing included systems to verify questionable provider claims, pay providers directly for services, compel providers to procure drugs centrally and track transfer of funds to providers. However, strategic vision was undermined by institutional conflicts, absence of purchaser-provider split and lack of selective contracting of providers. Benefit design was not based on stakeholder involvement. Rule of law was limited by delays in provider payment. Benefits and obligations to users were not transparent. The criteria and procedure for resource allocation were unclear. Some target beneficiaries seemed excluded from the scheme. Effectiveness and efficiency was constrained by poor adherence to purchasing rules. Accountability of purchasers and providers to users was weak. Intelligence and information is constrained by paper-based system. Rationing of free services by providers and users' non-adherence to primary gate-keeping role hindered ethics.Conclusion: Weak governance of purchasing function limits potential of FMCHP to contribute towards universal health coverage. Appropriate governance model for strengthening strategic purchasing in the FMCHP and possibly free healthcare interventions in other low-resource countries must pay attention to the creation of an autonomous purchasing agency, clear framework for selective contracting, stakeholder involvement, transparent benefit design, need-based resource allocation, efficient provider payment methods, stronger roles for citizens, enforcement of gatekeeping rules and use of data for decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]