Ethnicity and Maternal Health Care Utilization in Nigeria: The Role of Diversity and Homogeneity

Nigeria accounts for 10% of world’s maternal deaths. Meanwhile 62% of women deliver at home and 36% receive postnatal care. The poor maternal health situation has been linked to ethnic origin, but little is known about the role of ethnic diversity and homogeneity in the use of maternal health care services. We assessed the role of diversity and homogeneity in the utilization of delivery and postnatal care using a representative sample of 17542 women aged 15-49 years from the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to examine the association between ethnicity and the use of delivery and postnatal care. Preliminary results indicated that women who lived in communities with high proportion of women from different ethnic groups were less likely to deliver in a heath facility compared to those who lived in homogenous communities. Living in high ethnic diversity communities is significantly associated with increased odds of receiving postnatal care. Results demonstrated that ethnic diversity plays important role in understanding the differences in the utilization of maternal health care services. Findings suggest that interventions aimed at improving the use of maternal health care should take into account the concentration of ethnic groups in the community.