Decision-making power and access to and control over resources are key elements of women's bargaining power within a household, and plays an important role in improving healthcare seeking behaviours for women and their children, which in turn augment maternal and child health outcomes. We examined the relationship between intra-household bargaining power and utilization of postnatal and child healthcare services within 6 months after delivery, based on cross-sectional survey data from Kyenjojo district, Tooro sub-region of Western Uganda. We assessed independent associations between women's intra-household bargaining autonomy and postnatal care attendance using a modified Poisson approach for common outcomes. We found that women who contributed to the decision-making processes on child healthcare, personal healthcare, and how to raise money for healthcare of family members were about 20% more likely to attend postnatal and child healthcare within 6 months of delivery, compared with women who were unable to make such decisions. Therefore, contributing to efforts that empower women to have greater control over child and personal healthcare through gender transformative approaches and policy engagements in important.
Keywords: Child healthcare; Decision-making capacity; Infant care; Intra-household bargaining; Postnatal care.
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