title: Understanding home delivery in a context of user fee reduction: a cross-sectional mixed methods study in rural Burkina Faso.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several African countries have recently reduced/removed user fees for maternal care, producing considerable increases in the utilization of delivery services. Still, across settings, a conspicuous number of women continue to deliver at home. This study explores reasons for home delivery in rural Burkina Faso, where a successful user fee reduction policy is in place since 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study took place in the Nouna Health District and adopted a triangulation mixed methods design, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods. The quantitative component relied on use of data from the 2011 round of a panel household survey conducted on 1130 households. We collected data on utilization of delivery services from all women who had experienced a delivery in the previous twelve months and investigated factors associated with home delivery using multivariate logistic regression. The qualitative component relied on a series of open-ended interviews with 55 purposely selected households and 13 village leaders. We analyzed data using a mixture of inductive and deductive coding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 420 women who reported a delivery, 47 (11 %) had delivered at home. Random effect multivariate logistic regression revealed a clear, albeit not significant trend for women from a lower socio-economic status and living outside an area to deliver at home. Distance to the health facility was found to be positively significantly associated with home delivery. Qualitative findings indicated that women and their households valued facility-based delivery above home delivery, suggesting that cultural factors do not shape the decision where to deliver. Qualitative findings confirmed that geographical access, defined in relation to the condition of the roads and the high transaction costs associated with travel, and the cost-sharing fees still applied at point of use represent two major barriers to access facility-based delivery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that the current policy in Burkina Faso, as similar policies in the region, should be expanded to remove fees at point of use completely and to incorporate benefits/solutions to support the transport of women in labor to the health facility in due time.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. manuela.de.allegri@urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Allegri
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna, Nouna, Burkina Faso. tiendrejustin@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tiendrebéogo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. olaf.mueller@urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna, Nouna, Burkina Faso. yemaure@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yé
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. albrecht.jahn@urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Albrecht
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal School of Public Health (ESPUM), Montreal, Canada. valery.ridde@umontreal.ca.|Institut de recherche en santé publique de l'université de Montréal (IRSPUM), Montreal, Canada. valery.ridde@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Valéry
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ridde
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D002050:Burkina Faso; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics*; D006700:Home Childbirth / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult