Abstract
Objectives
The objective was to explore progress of equity in the utilization of maternal health care services in developing countries since maternal care is a crucial factor in reducing maternal mortality, which is targeted by the Millennium Development Goal 5.
Methods
A systematic review of quantitative studies was done. PubMed Central, Web of Science, and Science Direct databases were searched for peer-reviewed and English-language articles published between 2005 and 2015.
Results
Thirty-six articles were included in the review. The results reveal the lack of equity in the utilization of maternal health care in developing countries. Thirty-three out of 36 studies found evidence supporting severe inequities while three studies found evidence of equity or at least improvement in terms of equity.
Conclusions
Most of the literature devoted to utilization of maternal health care generally provides information on the level of maternal care used and ignore the equity problem. Research in this area should focus not only on the level of maternal care used but also on the most disadvantaged segments of the population in terms of utilization of maternal care in order to reach the set targets.
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This review is part of the special issue “Driving the Best Science to Meet Global Health Challenges” edited on the occasion of the 9th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health 2015.
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Çalışkan, Z., Kılıç, D., Öztürk, S. et al. Equity in maternal health care service utilization: a systematic review for developing countries. Int J Public Health 60, 815–825 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0711-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0711-x