Socioeconomic Inequalities in Quality Antenatal Care Utilization and Childhood Birth Weight in Ghana

Background: Child health and development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are critical issues.Despite the attainment of universal antenatal care (ANC) coverage in Ghana, the utilization of highquality ANC remains challenging for pregnant women regardless of their socioeconomic status.This inequality in utilizing quality ANC leads to adverse birth outcomes.To address this issue, this study examined socioeconomic inequalities in the utilization of ANC and its impact on childhood birth weight in Ghana.Methods: Data were obtained from the 2007 and 2017 Ghana Maternal Health Surveys (GMHS).The pregnant woman's visits to the antenatal clinic and the content of care she received were used as measures of quality ANC.Concentration Curve (CC), Concentration Index (CI) and Erreygers' Index (EI) were constructed to measure the magnitude and trends of socioeconomic inequalities.The Total Differential Approach was used to decompose the contributions of various factors of inequalities.Finally, the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) rescaling method was used to examine the relative impact of socioeconomic variables mediating the total effect of ANC utilization on birth weight.