Barriers and Facilitators of Maternal Health Care Services Use among Pastoralist Women in Ethiopia: Systems Thinking Perspective

We explored the barriers and facilitators of maternal health care service use among women in the pastoralist region of Ethiopia. We used a mixed methods design—focus group discussions, key informant interviews, review of the literature and Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation Research (PEER) methods followed by a household survey among randomly chosen pastoralist women of reproductive age ( n = 1,499). We used multi-variable regression analyses, and a p value ≤ 0.05 was set to determine statistical significance. In addition, we analysed qualitative data thematically and developed a causal loop diagram using dynamic synthesis methodology to analyse non-linearity, intricate relationships of the variable of interests. In this study, 20.6% of women used modern contraceptive methods, 44.6% had four or more antenatal visits and 38.4% of sampled women received skilled delivery services. We observed multiple individual and community related factors such as education, income and women’s and their partner’s knowledge, perceptions, husband approval, social norms and value-expectations and providers’ gender preferences and health systems factors such as access to health facilities, place of living, provider's cultural competency skills, supplies, delivery positions, economic and political stability, and provider's attitude were linked to maternal health care services utilization among women in pastoralist regions. Approaches towards pastoralists’ health care delivery systems should be responsive to their cultural and political ecology and human agency.