Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Towards universal health coverage: the role of within-country wealth-related inequality in 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Cesar G Victora, Nicole Bergen, Aluisio JD Barros & Ties Boerma

Volume 89, Number 12, December 2011, 881-890

Table 2. Health service coverage gap of skilled birth attendance and one or more antenatal care visits – national average versus within-country inequality in 28 sub-Saharan African countries, 2000–2008

Country Skilled birth attendance
 One or more antenatal care visits
Coverage gap (%)
 PARa (percentage points) PAR%b Coverage gap (%)
 PARa (percentage points) PAR%b
National In richest quintile National In richest quintile
Benin 22 2 20 90 12 1 11 92
Burkina Faso 62 16 47 75 27 4 23 85
Cameroon 38 5 33 86 17 3 14 82
Chad 84 49 35 42 58 23 35 60
Congo 16 2 14 88 13 2 11 85
Democratic Republic of the Congo 25 2 23 93 14 4 10 72
Ethiopia 94 73 21 22 72 42 30 42
Gabon 13 3 10 80 4 2 2 55
Ghana 41 5 36 87 4 0 4 100
Guinea 62 12 50 80 19 2 17 89
Kenya 58 25 34 58 12 6 6 49
Lesotho 44 16 28 64 10 4 6 58
Liberia 53 18 35 67 20 4 16 80
Madagascar 54 8 46 85 20 3 17 85
Malawi 43 15 27 64 7 3 4 56
Mali 73 24 49 67 63 20 43 68
Mozambique 52 11 41 79 15 1 14 94
Namibia 18 2 16 88 5 3 2 40
Niger 82 41 42 51 54 17 37 68
Nigeria 61 14 47 77 45 6 39 87
Rwanda 71 40 31 43 6 5 1 12
Senegal 48 10 37 78 12 2 10 84
Sierra Leone 58 29 29 50 13 3 10 77
Swaziland 26 8 18 70 3 1 2 65
United Republic of Tanzania 54 13 41 76 6 3 3 47
Uganda 57 23 35 60 6 3 3 49
Zambia 53 8 45 84 6 1 5 84
Zimbabwe 31 5 27 85 6 3 3 47
Median 53 13 34 76 13 3 10 70
95% CI of the median 42–58 8–17 28–40 65–83 6–18 2–4 5–16 57–84

CI, confidence interval; PAR, population attributable risk.

a Absolute inequality.

b Relative inequality, calculated by dividing population attributable risk by the national health service coverage gap.

Note: Figures may be affected by rounding.