The use of modern healthcare services by pregnant women in Cameroon can therefore be improved by at least two means: firstly, by improving on the level of education of women and economically empowering them.
The indigents were questioned about their use of modern healthcare services over the previous six months.
The high levels of unintended pregnancy in Kenya are related to poor access to, and use of, modern contraceptive services and products.
We also know that a child will have, on average, around four health problems a year that require the use of modern health services [ 22].
Gilman et al. [ 14] described traditional illness concepts among Laotian Refugees and found that they used to integrate traditional healing beliefs and practices with the use of modern health services.
This may be because educated husbands might support their wives in the use of modern health services such as family planning, ANC and postnatal care, which in turn reduce the odds of having anaemia, as well advising them to eat a diverse diet.
Finally, the existence of a health insurance scheme increases the use of modern maternal healthcare services.
Other factors independently associated with antenatal care and delivery care include women's education, urban residence, wealth, distance from the nearest health facility and previous use of modern family planning services.
To articulate how the Islamic religion might influence Muslim women's access to and use of modern maternal health services, this study adopted a theoretical framework that previous authors have called the 'religio-cultural thesis' [ 12, 15, 16].
The findings clearly suggest that the use of the religio-cultural thesis as a conceptual framework in this paper was most appropriate in drawing attention to the Islamic religion as a critical factor that constrains access and use of modern maternal health services among Muslim women [ 16].
