ARIMA-NOISE MODEL FOR A SEGMENTED INTERVENTION ANALYSIS OF MATERNAL HEALTH POLICY ON ASSISTED DELIVERY

摘要

Women's utilization of maternal health care facility is a vital health issue with regards to well-being and survival of both the mother and her child. In April 2005, the government of Ghana in pursuit of Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5) established the Exemption Fee Delivery policy (EFDP) and subseqently followed by Free Maternal Healthcare Policy (FMHCP) in july 2008. This was to help tackle the high incidence of maternal mortality and replace the cash and carry healthcare system. Using intervention analysis of Box and Tiao(1975) this study assessed the impact of these policies on monthly assisted childbirths at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology hospital from January 2000 to December 2011. The estimated intervention model showed an insignificant approximate increase of 9 childbirths for the EFDP. The FMHCP showed a significant additional 60 childbirths at the hospital. Findings show that the elimination of financial barrier to seeking assisted childbirth resulted in a significant increase in the number of pregnant women seeking assisted delivery. This confirms the assertion that financial factor is a barrier to assisted delivery and these policies had contributed in lowering infant and maternal death statistics.