EBF rates were also higher among women who had delivery assistance from health professionals compared to those mothers who were assisted by traditional birth attendants or untrained persons.
Information collected by the GDHS survey relevant to the study includes: background characteristics of women and their husbands/partners, reproductive histories, current use of contraceptive methods, antenatal visits, delivery assistance and health facility deliveries.
This notwithstanding, coverage of reproductive health services (especially contraception use and delivery assistance) continues to be low, even when MMR and pregnancy-related malnutrition and complications continue to be high in many SSA countries [1, 6].
It is argued that differential access to health care facilities between the rural and urban areas is an important factor for lower maternal health care services, particularly for institutional delivery assistance by health personnel in rural areas (Agha and Carton 2011; Birmeta et al. 2013).
The results also show that women from Northern Ghana are significantly more likely to have 4+ antenatal visits compared to women from Southern Ghana, but less likely to go for antenatal visits in the first trimester (p < 0.10), deliver in a health facility or use delivery assistance from health professionals (p > 0.10).
Skilled birth attendance is defined as delivery assistance provided by a doctor, nurse, or midwife.
A significant proportion of pregnant women missed the opportunity of modern delivery assistance.
Hence, type of delivery assistance was retained in the final model.
To determine the linkage between timing of the first ANC visit and delivery assistance ii.
It is generally assumed that trained health care providers (nurses, clinical officers, and doctors) provide skilled delivery assistance.
Of special interest to the study is the extent to which the use of ANC services seems to affect the type of delivery assistance.
