Do Women with Higher Autonomy Seek More Maternal and Child Health-Care? Evidence From Ethiopia And Eritrea

Gebremariam Woldemicael, Stockholm University

Although reduction of maternal and child mortality is among the key UN Millennium Development Goals, very little empirical evidence on maternal and child health care-seeking behaviour is available in contemporary Ethiopia and Eritrea. In this paper, different dimensions of women’s decision-making autonomy and their relationship to maternal and child health-care utilization are investigated using data from recent Demographic and Health Surveys of Ethiopia and Eritrea. We simultaneously consider the role of socio-economic (indirect) indicators of women’s status. The study shows that most autonomy indicators are important predictors of maternal and child health-care utilization although the strength and statistical significance vary by health-care utilization outcome and country, and in some cases significance is lost when socio-economic indicators are held constant. The findings suggest that both women’s autonomy and socio-economic indicators should be analyzed in order to derive a complete understanding of the determinants of maternal and child health-care utilization.