Evaluation of Maternal and Child Health by Country Income Groups: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

Objective: The economic situation of countries is one of the important determinants of health. The aim of this study is to eval- uate the socioeconomic inequalities in maternal and child health using the indicators of maternal and child health of countries by World Bank’s income classification. Material and Methods: In the research, 166 countries were included. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Ver. 20). The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to analyze whether variables about maternal and child health differ according to country income groups. The significance level was accepted as p<0.05. Mann-Whitney U test was used to understand from which groups the difference originated. Results: As a result of this study, it was deter- mined that maternal and child health variables differed statistically sig- nificantly between country groups according to the World Bank income classification. Conclusion: Using the World Bank’s income classifi- cation, this study highlights socioeconomic inequalities in maternal and child health. Although very serious risks in maternal and child health are not observed in high-income and upper-middle-income countries, there remain problems, particularly in low-income and lower-middle- income countries. The results show that children in low-income coun- tries have more limited access to important health interventions such as vaccines and medical care. Eliminating inequalities in maternal and child health should be seen as a necessity for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Global cooperation is considered necessary to re- duce socioeconomic inequalities in maternal and child health. Interna- tional organizations are expected to support these countries with seriously aid.