Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Globally, there has been renewed effort to provide public health services to ensure all women and their children survive and thrive. In lower resource settings, access to healthcare services for women, children and adolescent girls has been expanding. However, there is often much variability in the affordability, quality and experiences of care received by different socio-economic groups, and thereby in the level of health-related and financial hardship that families face. This research project will be conducted in India and Tanzania to measure differences in access to health services before, during and after childbirth for women in higher and lower socio-economic groups, the clinical quality of care provided when they access them, and whether this ultimately improves the health of women and their children. It will examine whether this is related to contextual issues like health system inputs, population density, female literacy rates or public policy in each region. The study will also involve in-depth case-studies in regions with varying socio-economic differences in the health of women and children to explore their experiences with and perspectives on healthcare services, and the context-specific reasons for any differences between socio-economic groups. This research will be conducted through established partnerships with academic and public health organizations in Tanzania and India. It will provide new knowledge by applying theories and methods from different disciplines to understand socio-economic differences in the accessibility, quality, and impact of healthcare services, particularly with a focus on the health system, socio-cultural, political, economic, geographic or other contextual factors shaping them. This will provide international partners with specific information to guide their programs, and contribute to Canada's role as a leader and ally in global health research to improve the health and well-being of all women, adolescent girls and children.