Table 2 Individual and community-level factors that are supposed to affect the uptake of maternal health services in West African countries, 2013–2021

Individual-level factors

Age

The respondent's age, expressed in years, at the time of the survey

1. 15–19,

2. 20–34

3. 35–49^a

Marital status

Percentage of women according to the current status of marriage or cohabitation

1. Married

2. Never married

3. Others^a

Women educational attainment

Percent distribution of women ages 15–49 by the highest level of schooling attended or completed

1. No education^a,

2. Primary

3. Secondary

4. Higher

Occupational status

Percent distribution of women and men employed in the 12 months preceding the survey by occupation

1. Unemployed^a

2. Employed

Family size

Number of household members at the time of data collection

1. ≤ 5^a

2. > 5

Wealth index

Calculated using easy-to-collect data on a household's ownership of selected assets, such as televisions and bicycles; materials used for housing construction; and types of water access and sanitation facilities

1. Richest^a

2. Richer

3. Middle

4. Poorer

5. Poorest

Sex of head of Household

Percent distribution of households by sex of head of household

1. Female

2. Male^a

Parity

The number of living children the woman had at the time of the survey

1. Nulliparous^a

2. Primiparous

3. Multiparous

4. Grand multiparous

Total children ever born

Percentage of women with a specified number of children ever born at the time of the survey

1. No^a

2. One

3. Two to four

4. Five and more

Pregnancy status during last childbirth

Percent distribution of births to women aged 15–49 in the 5 years preceding the survey, including current pregnancies, by planning status of the birth – (i) wanted then, (ii) wanted later, or (iii) not wanted at all

1. Unwanted (ii& iii)

2. Wanted (i)^a

Difficulty in accessing healthcare

Percentage of women age 15–49 who reported that they have serious problems in accessing health care for themselves when they are sick, by type of problem:

1. Getting permission to go for treatment

2. Getting money for treatment

3. Distance to the health facility and the responses were categorized as ‘Not big problem’ or ‘Big problem’

1. Not big problem

2. Big problem^a

Covered by health insurance

Percentage of women and men ages 15–49 covered by any health insurance schemes

1. Yes

2. No^a

Media exposure

Number of women age 15–49 who are exposed to specific media with various frequencies: read a newspaper, watch television, and listen to radio

1. Not at all^a

2. Less than once a week

3. ≥ Once a week

Autonomy in decision-making ^a

The aggregate distribution of currently married women aged 15–49 who usually makes decisions about their own health care, large household purchases, and visits to family or relatives

1. Low^a

2. Medium

3. high

The overall attitude towards the wife beating ^b

A proportion of women aged 15 to 49 agreed or disagreed that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife for at least one of the following reasons: burning food, arguing with him, going out without notifying him, neglecting the children, refusing to have sexual intercourse with him

1. Low

2. Moderate

3. High^a

Community-level factors

    Residence

The area where respondents lived when the survey was conducted

1. Urban

2. rural^a

    Community level poverty

Described as the proportion of respondents who lived in the cluster's worst housing conditions. The cluster's overall poverty can be estimated and classified as low, moderate, or high by adding together the individual households with the lowest wealth indices

1. Low^a

2. Moderate

3. High