Medical facility birth with skilled birth attendance is essential to reduce maternal mortality. The purpose of this study was to assess the demographic characteristics, socio-economic factors, and varied health information sources that may influence the uptake of birth services in Pakistan. We used pooled data from Maternal-Child Health Program Indicator Survey 2013 and 2014. Study population was 9719 women. Generalized linear model with log link and a Poisson distribution was used to identify factors associated with place of birth. 3403 (35%) women gave birth at home, and 6316 (65%) women gave birth at a medical facility. After controlling for all covariates, women's age, number of children, education, wealth, and mother and child health information source (doctors and nurses/midwives) were associated with facility births. Women were significantly less likely to give birth at a medical facility if they received maternal-child health information from low-level health workers or relatives/friends. The findings suggest that interventions should target disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of women after considering rural-urban differences. Training non-health professionals may help improve facility birth. Further research is needed to examine the effect of individual information sources on facility birth, both in urban and rural areas in Pakistan.
Keywords: Pakistan; health information source; maternal-child health; place of birth; socio-economic factor.