Internal Migration and Antenatal Care Seeking Practices in Ghana

Temitope O. Adeyoju, University of the Witwatersrand
Latifat D. G. Ibisomi, University of the Witwatersrand
Violet Nyambo, University of the Witwatersrand

One of the goals of Antenatal Care (ANC) is to screen and identify patients who are at high risk of having complications during child birth. With several factors been established to influence ANC in Ghana, also there are evidences of increasing female internal migration in Ghana. Since female migrants are vulnerable to environmental and social institutions, this may affect their health seeking behavior (Ackah, 2010). Could female migration be a predictor of antenatal care in Ghana? Using 2008 Ghanaian Demographic and Health Survey female data, this study investigates if and how female internal migration influence seeking ANC. Results show that 30% migrated and 34% of the females migrants did not utilized ANC. Internal migrants have a lesser odd [0.66] of attending antenatal care compared to urban natives while rural natives have a lesser odds [0.63] of attending antenatal compared to urban natives. The implication will be discussed.