African Nutrition in Public Health (Applied focus) | 16 May 2008
Longitudinal Assessment of Health Insurance Coverage Expansion’s Impact on Maternal Mortality Reduction in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana
A, b, e, n, a, K, w, a, m, p, e, m, a, a
Abstract
Maternal mortality remains a significant public health concern in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where health insurance coverage has been expanding over recent decades. We employed a comprehensive search strategy across multiple databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Studies were included if they reported longitudinal data on maternal mortality rates and health insurance coverage expansion during the specified period. The findings indicate that increased health insurance coverage was associated with significant reductions in maternal mortality, though the exact proportions varied by region and time frame, suggesting a need for more localized studies to understand these trends better. This scoping review highlights the potential of expanding health insurance access as an effective strategy for reducing maternal mortality rates. However, further research is needed to validate these findings and explore specific contextual factors influencing outcomes. Public health policymakers in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana should prioritise integrating health insurance coverage expansion into their national strategies to address maternal mortality effectively. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p<em>i)=\beta</em>0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.