Impact of Covid‐19 on Maternal Health Seeking in Ghana.

The Covid‐19 pandemic is widely speculated to have disrupted the delivery of primary health care in low‐income countries. Yet, there is little rigorous empirical research identifying this effect. This paper estimates the impact of Covid‐19 on facility and skilled delivery and utilisation of antenatal care (ANC) services by comparing these outcomes for women who were pregnant/delivered before and during the Covid‐19 period. The results show that Covid‐19 led to 23% and 25% reductions, respectively, in the likelihood of facility delivery and four or more ANC visits during pregnancy. These findings highlight the need to build more resilient health systems in low‐income settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]