The Association Between Household Consumer Durable Assets and Maternal Health-Seeking Behavior in Ghana

This paper examined the association between household consumer durable assets and maternal health seeking behaviour. Several studies suggest that there is a relationship between households’ socioeconomic status (SES) and health outcomes. However, SES is a multidimensional concept with other variables that encompass variables such as wealth, education and income. By lumping these variables together as one construct, prior studies have not provided enough insight into possible independent associations with health outcomes. This study used data from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey from women aged between 15 and 49 years to examine the association between household consumer durables (a component of SES) and maternal health seeking behaviour (MHSB) in Ghana. Results from a set of generalized linear models on a sub-sample of 2,065 participants indicate that household consumer durable assets are positively associated with antenatal practices such as seeking prenatal care from skilled health personnel, delivery by skilled birth attendant, place of delivery, and the number of antenatal visits. The study discusses implications for health interventions and policies that focus on most vulnerable households.