Examining the Period-Based Changes in the Effect of Socioeconomic Status in Maternal Healthcare Utilization Across Regional and Residential Contexts in Postcolonial Tanzania (1991–2016)

ABSTRACT

Applying dependency theory, this manuscript uses data from the six cross-sectional Tanzania Demographic Health Surveys from 1991 to 2016 (n = 30,028) to explore temporal variations in the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on maternal healthcare (MHC) utilization across different residences and regions. Research in this area is nonexistent in Tanzania. The results suggest a notable gap in using Tanzanian MHC based on SES and location (i.e. residence, regions). Results suggest that women from underserved groups, such as those living in rural areas or all-other (i.e. unprivileged) regions with lower SES, may have less access to MHC in the underdeveloped world. There were statistically significant socioeconomic variations in MHC use observed between residencies and regions, with stronger differences seen between residencies than regions. These findings further highlight the idea that lower use of MHC in the Global South is inseparable from economic dependency on metropolitan and Global North countries. This research calls for policymakers to recognize the roles of interactions between location and socioeconomic inequalities as factors exacerbated by higher dependency when crafting policies to modify healthcare utilization among women in underdeveloped countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Dependency theory
• healthcare disparities
• international determinants of healthcare
• structural adjustment loans

Acknowledgments

I want to thank the late Professor Emeritus David Dickens, Jr., for instilling in me these theoretical understanding. Even though he is gone, his contribution to my scholarship and other graduate students was and will be forever phenomenal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Neema Langa

Neema Langa is an assistant professor of sociology and African American studies at the University of Houston. Her research uses quantitative methods to analyze the structural factors that contribute to disparities in healthcare utilization and health outcomes among Africans and African American women residing in underserved communities. Her research also explores how social inequalities and healthcare experiences affect the later-life health outcomes of women.