Investigating the Role of Health Care at Birth on Inequalities in Neonatal Survival: Evidence from Bangladesh

Sarah Neal, University of Southampton
Zoe Matthews, University of Southampton

In countries such as Bangladesh many women may only seek skilled care at birth once complications become evident. This often results in higher neonatal mortality for women delivering in institutions. However, we hypothesise that the apparent increase in mortality is concentrated in less advantaged women.The aim of this paper is to examine the association between place of delivery and neonatal mortality in Bangladesh, and how this varies by socio-economic status. We use both bivariate analysis and multivariate regression and draw on data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Household Surveys. The paper clearly shows that women from poorer socio-economic groups who give birth in institutions have worse outcomes than those who give birth at home. This difference is much less marked for more wealthy women. There is a much stronger socio-economic gradient for neonatal mortality for women who give birth in institutions than those who delivery at home.