Regional Differences in Postnatal Care Service Utilisation and Child Morbidity in Nigeria: Evidence from 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS)

Abstract Introduction: Modern Postnatal Care Services (PNC) in Nigeria is vital tool for providing quality health for mothers and newborns. Nonetheless, many regions in Nigeria are still struggling to achieve optimum utilisation of modern PNC services due to variation in associated socioeconomic factors of mothers based on their regions. This study aims at assessing regional socioeconomic factors associated with PNC services utilisation and its relationship with child morbidity in Nigeria. Methods Data for this study was extracted from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2018 birth recoded file dataset, with a sample size of 30713 women (aged 15–49). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-Square Test and logistic regression. The main predictor variable was the region, while others included the type of PNC service utilised and various demographic variables of the respondents – age, education, type of residence, religion, ethnicity among others. Results The average age of the respondents was 29.5 ± 6.8. The use of modern PNC services ranged from South-West (20.3%), South-South (10.9%), South-East (23.0%), North-Central (22.0%), North-East (13.0%) to North-West (10.9%). The prevalence of child morbidity ranged from South-West (8.5%), South-South (9.8%), South-East (11.4%), North-Central (15.3%), North-East (26.3%) to North-West (28.7%). Child morbidity is significantly higher in the South-South (OR = 1.46), South-East (OR = 1.50), North-Central (OR = 1.13), North-East (OR = 2.31) and North-West (OR = 1.35) compared to the South-West. Conclusion Majority of women in Nigeria are not using modern PNC services. Regional variations in the use of PNC services and socio-demographic characteristics of mothers influence child morbidity in Nigeria. There is need for regional-specific context sensitisation for mothers in the use of modern PNC services.