Effect of Women’s Education on Skilled Birth Attendants in South and South East Asia: A Cross-Country Assessment on Sustainable Development Goal 3.1

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.1 is to “reduce the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to less than 70 per 100,000 live births” by 2030. One of the indicators of MMR is the proportion of births attended by a skilled health personnel. To achieve this goal low- and middle-income countries are required to increase the coverage of skilled birth attendants (SBA) for safe delivery during childbirth. This study used the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data and assessed 1,171,731 women aged 15–49 years from 10 countries selected from South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) region to evaluate the status of SDG 3.1 in this region. This paper also evaluated the contribution of women’s education on SBA coverage using surveys conducted during the period 1992–2017. Logistic regression models were fitted adjusting the survey clusters, strata and sampling weights. Meta-analyses were conducted collapsing the effect sizes and confidence intervals of education on SBA coverage. Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines had over 80% SBA coverage after 2010, whereas Bangladesh had only 44.7% coverage among the selected countries in SEA. Education of women at all levels (primary, secondary and higher) were significantly associated with SBA coverage, suggesting that education is a key to skilled delivery cares in SSEA region.