Mother's education and utilisation of health care services in Pakistan.

Consistent with a large body of research identifying a positive association between maternal education and utilization of health care services, the present study found that mothers in Pakistan with higher educational status were more likely to avail themselves of prenatal and delivery services. The focus of the survey was the last birth among a subsample of women from the 1991 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey who had delivered in the preceding six years. Respondents indicated whether they had obtained prenatal and/or delivery care from a traditional midwife or a modern medical professional (doctor, nurse, lady health visitor, family welfare worker, trained birth attendant). As expected, educated, literate women were more likely than their illiterate counterparts to utilize a modern source for both prenatal care and delivery. This trend was more pronounced for women with a middle-school education than those with a primary-level education. Other variables associated with use of modern medical facilities included urban residence, parity one, and high paternal education. The effect of education is less significant in urban areas where modern health care is easily accessible. This implies that interventions in rural areas aimed at both raising female educational status and improving accessibility to modern health facilities would have a significant impact on eliminating differentials in health care utilization.