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UNDERSTANDING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MATERNAL EDUCATION AND USE OF HEALTH SERVICES IN GHANA: EXPLORING THE ROLE OF HEALTH KNOWLEDGE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2012

EMILY SMITH GREENAWAY ,
JUAN LEON  and
DAVID P. BAKER
EMILY SMITH GREENAWAY
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, USA
JUAN LEON
Affiliation:
Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE), Lima, Peru
DAVID P. BAKER
Affiliation:
Education Policy Studies Department, Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, USA
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Summary

This paper examines the role of health knowledge in the association between mothers' education and use of maternal and child health services in Ghana. The study uses data from a nationally representative sample of female respondents to the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. Ordered probit regression models evaluate whether women's health knowledge helps to explain use of three specific maternal and child health services: antenatal care, giving birth with the supervision of a trained professional and complete child vaccination. The analyses reveal that mothers' years of formal education are strongly associated with health knowledge; health knowledge helps explain the association between maternal education and use of health services; and, net of a set of stringent demographic and socioeconomic controls, mothers' health knowledge is a key factor associated with use of health services.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 44 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 733 - 747
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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