Objective This study aimed to assess the determinants of accessing healthcare among reproductive-age women in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Design, setting and analysis Cross-sectional data were sourced from recent Demographic and Health Surveys in 36 SSA countries. We employed mixed-effect analysis to identify the determinants of accessing healthcare in SSA. OR and its 95% CI were reported for determinants associated with accessing healthcare. Outcome The outcome for this study was whether accessing healthcare was a ‘big problem’ or ‘not a big problem’. Responses to these questions were categorised as a big problem and not a big problem. Participants A total weighted sample of 500 439 reproductive-age (15–49 years) women from each country’s recent Demographic and Health Surveys from 2006 to 2018 were included in this study. Results The pooled prevalence of healthcare access among reproductive-age women in SSA was 42.56% (95% CI 42.43% to 42.69%). The results of the mixed-effect analysis revealed that the determinants of accessing healthcare were urban residence (adjusted OR (AOR)=1.25, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.73), ability to read and write (AOR=1.15, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.28), primary education (AOR=1.08, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.12), secondary education and above (AOR=1.12, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.14), husband with primary education (AOR=1.06, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.1.12), husband with secondary education and above (AOR=1.22, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.27), middle wealth index (AOR=1.43, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.47), rich wealth index (AOR=2.19, 95% CI 2.13 to 2.24) and wanted pregnancy (AOR=1.27, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.29). Conclusion Healthcare access in SSA was found at 42.56%, which is very low even if Sustainable Development Goal 3.8 targeted universal health coverage for everyone so they can obtain the health services they need. The major determinants of healthcare access among reproductive-age women in SSA were urban residence, higher educational level, higher wealth index and wanted pregnancy. The findings of this study suggest and recommend strengthening and improving healthcare access for women who reside in the countryside, women with low level of education and women of low socioeconomic status.

Background: Timely initiation of antenatal care (ANC) is an important component of ANC services that improve the health of the mother and the newborn. Mothers who begin attending ANC in a timely manner, can fully benefit from preventive and curative services. However, evidence in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) indicated that the majority of pregnant mothers did not start their first visit timely. As our search concerned, there is no study that incorporates a large number of sub-Saharan Africa countries. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of timely initiation of ANC and its associated factors in 36 sSA countries. Methods: The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 36 sSA countries were used for the analysis. The total weighted sample of 233,349 women aged 15–49 years who gave birth in the five years preceding the survey and who had ANC visit for their last child were included. A multi-level logistic regression model was used to examine the individual and community-level factors that influence the timely initiation of ANC. Results were presented using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: In this study, overall timely initiation of ANC visit was 38.0% (95% CI: 37.8–38.2), ranging from 14.5% in Mozambique to 68.6% in Liberia. In the final multilevel logistic regression model:- women with secondary education (AOR = 1.08; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.11), higher education (AOR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.36, 1.51), women aged 25–34 years (AOR = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.17, 1.23), ≥35 years (AOR = 1.30; 95% CI: 1.26, 1.35), women from richest household (AOR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.22), women perceiving distance from the health facility as not a big problem (AOR = 1.05; 95%CI: 1.03, 1.07), women exposed to media (AOR = 1.29; 95%CI: 1.26, 1.32), women living in communities with medium percentage of literacy (AOR = 1.51; 95%CI: 1.40, 1.63), and women living in communities with high percentage of literacy (AOR = 1.56; 95%CI: 1.38, 1.76) were more likely to initiate ANC timely. However, women who wanted their pregnancy later (AOR = 0.84; 95%CI: 0.82, 0.86), wanted no more pregnancy (AOR = 0.80; 95%CI: 0.77, 0.83), and women residing in the rural area (AOR = 0.90; 95%CI: 0.87, 0.92) were less likely to initiate ANC timely. Conclusion: Even though the WHO recommends all women initiate ANC within 12 weeks of gestation, sSA recorded a low overall prevalence of timely initiation of ANC. Maternal education, pregnancy intention, residence, age, wealth status, media exposure, distance from health facility, and community-level literacy were significantly associated with timely initiation of ANC. Therefore, intervention efforts should focus on the identified factors in order to improve timely initiation of ANC in sSA. This can be done through the providing information and education to the community on the timing and importance of attending antenatal care and family planning to prevent unwanted pregnancy, especially in rural settings.

Background: Diarrhea, the second leading cause of child morbidity and mortality worldwide, is responsible for more than 90% of deaths in children under 5 years of age in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The high burden of diarrhea is mainly attributable to the limited access to improved water and sanitation. However, the impacts of improved sanitation and drinking water in preventing diarrheal diseases are not well understood. Therefore, this study estimated both the independent and joint effects of improved sanitation and water on diarrhea occurrence among rural under-five children in LMICs. Methods: The current study utilized secondary data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets conducted between 2016 and 2021 in 27 LMICs. A total weighted sample of 330,866 under-five children was included in the study. We employed propensity score matching analysis (PSMA) to examine the effects of accessing improved water and sanitation on childhood diarrheal disease reduction. Results: The prevalence of diarrhea among children under 5 years of age in rural LMICs was 11.02% (95% CI; 10.91%, 11.31%). The probability of developing diarrhea among under-five children from households with improved sanitation and water was 16.6% (Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) = − 0.166) and 7.4% (ATT = − 0.074) times less likely among those from households with unimproved sanitation and water, respectively. Access to improved water and sanitation is significantly associated with a 24.5% (ATT = − 0.245) reduction of diarrheal disease among under-five children. Conclusions: Improved sanitation and drinking water source reduced the risk of diarrhea among under-five children in LMIC. The effects of both interventions (improved water and sanitation) had a larger impact on the reduction of diarrheal disease than the improvements to water or sanitation alone. Therefore, achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is key to reducing diarrhea among rural under-five children.

Background: Many maternal and neonatal deaths are largely preventable by expanding the continuum of care (at least four antenatal visits, skilled birth attendance and postnatal care). Even though ensuring the Continuum of Care (CoC) has advantages over separate services, evidence from the globe suggests that completion of the CoC for maternal health is very low. From our search of the literature, there is limited evidence on the completion of the entire CoC and its associated factors in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA). Therefore, this study aimed to assess coverage and associated factors of completion of the CoC for maternal health in sSA.Methods: Data for the study were drawn from a recent nationally representative survey of 32 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). A total weighted sample of 225,135 women of reproductive-age, who gave birth in the two preceding years were included. Due to the hierarchical nature of DHS data, a multilevel logistic regression model was applied to investigate individual and community-level factors that may influence completion of CoC. Adjusted Odds Ratios (aORs) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were reported and variables with 95% CI not including 1 were considered as significant factors of the completion of CoC.Results: Only, 56,172 (25.0%; 95% CI, 20.5%, 29.4%) of the women in sSA utilized the CoC for maternal health which varied from 11,908 (17.9.0%) in East Africa to 7,418 (51.5% in Southern Africa. Factors associated with higher odds of CoC were women aged 24–34 years (aOR 1.22, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.25), aged ≥ 35 years (aOR 1.40, 95% CI: 1.35, 1.47), attending primary education (aOR 1.44, 95% CI: 1.41, 1.49), secondary education (aOR 1.95, 95% CI: 1.89, 2.03), higher education (aOR 2.15, 95% CI: 2.01, 2.25), having mass media exposure (aOR 1.35, 95% CI: 1.28, 1.39), women from female-headed households (aOR 1.18, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.21) and women from communities with high maternal education (aOR 1.12, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.16). However, perceiving distance from the health facility as a big problem (aOR 0.88, 95% CI: 0.85, 0.91), residing in rural areas (aOR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.75, 0.81), delayed ANC initiation (aOR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.47) and unintended pregnancy (aOR 0.87, 95% CI: 0.84, 0.91) were associated with lower odds of CoC.Conclusion: This study showed a low proportion of women, who utilized the CoC in sSA. Both individual and community-level factors were associated with CoC completion rates among women in sSA. Therefore, policymakers in sSA must consider both individual and community-level factors and undertake multi-sectorial approaches to address barriers of CoC at different levels.

Background: Anaemia is a major global public health problem, considerably affects young women in resource limited countries. The available researches on anaemia focused on children, pregnant women, or all women of reproductive age. However, women's biology and life experiences vary dramatically across 15 to 49 years, putting young women bear the higher burden of anaemia, mainly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Therefore, this study assessed the burden of anaemia among young women (15–24 years) in 24 LMICs which conducted Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) between 2016 and 2021.Method: Data analysis was carried out with STATA version 14. The forest plot was used to explore the pooled prevalence of anaemia. Multilevel binary logistic regression was fitted to accommodate the hierarchical nature of the DHS data. Accordingly, a model with lowest deviance (model III) was the best-fitted model. All variables with ap-value ≤ 0.2 in the bi-variable analysis were fitted in the multi-level multivariable model. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI andp < 0.05 were presented to declare statistical significance.Result: The pooled prevalence of anaemia among young (15–24 years) women in 24 LMICs was 41.58% (95%CI: 34.51, 48.65). Country wise, Mali (62.95%) and Rwanda (14.13%) constitute the highest and lowest prevalence of anaemia. In this study, young women who lived in the poorest wealth status, had no education, were underweight, perceived distance to the health facility a big problem, larger family size, and women who had ever terminated pregnancy were associated with increased odds of anaemia. Whereas, young women who were overweight and not breast feeding had decreased odds of anaemia.Conclusion: The unacceptably high burden of anaemia among young women setbacks the SDG target; to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Therefore, it is highly recommended to take relevant interventions to reduce the burden of anaemia targeted the young women who are uneducated, have low socio-economic status, limited access to health facilities, and lived in larger family size.

Background: Early marriage is a global public health problem that is mainly practiced in South Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. It raises the risk of early childbearing of women, higher rates of divorce, and an increased risk of maternal and child death. However, little is known about the spatial distribution and determinants of early marriage in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the spatial distribution and determinants of early marriage among ever-married women in Ethiopia.Methods: A detailed analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data was conducted. A total weighted sample of 11,646 reproductive-age married women were included in the analysis. To identify significant hotspot areas of early marriage the Bernoulli model was fitted using SaTScan version 9.6 software. Additionally, to explore the spatial distributions of early marriage across the country ArcGIS version 10.1 statistical software was used. For the determinant factors, the multilevel logistic regression model was fitted. Deviance was used for model comparison and checking of model fitness. In the multivariable multilevel analysis, Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% CI was used to declare significant determinants of early marriage.Results: The finding of this study revealed that the spatial distribution of early marriage was significantly varied across the country with Global Moran’s I = 0.719 and p value < 0.001. The primary clusters were detected in Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions. Both individual and community-level factors were associated with early marriage. Having no formal education (AOR = 4.25, 95% CI 3.13–5.66), primary education (AOR = 3.37, 95% CI 2.80–4.92), secondary education (AOR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.32–2.33), and a decision made by parents (AOR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.68–2.09) were individual-level factors associated with higher odds of early marriage. Among the community-level factors, the region was significantly associated with early marriage. Thus, living in Afar (AOR = 1.82, 95%CI 1.37–2.42), Amhara (AOR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.38–2.77), and Gambela (AOR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.09–190) was associated with higher odds of early marriage. Whereas, living in Addis Ababa (AOR = 0.50, 95% CI 0.36–0.68) was associated with a lower chance of early marriage.Conclusion: The spatial distribution of early marriage was significantly varied in Ethiopia. Women’s education, women’s autonomy, and region were found to be the significant determinants of early marriage. Therefore, public health interventions targeting those identified significant hotspot areas of early marriage are crucial to reduce the incidence of early marriage and its consequence. In addition, enhancing women's education and empowering them to make their own choices are vital for changing the customs of the community and eliminating early marriage in Ethiopia.