ArticleBMJ open2025
Evaluation of universal health coverage for maternal health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review of the context, reforms and progress.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis scoping review explores the global context, policies and programmes aimed at achieving universal health coverage (UHC) for maternal health services, focusing on progress within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Additionally, it maps methodological approaches and indicators used to evaluate UHC progress for maternal health.
designScoping review methodology. DATA SOURCES: ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science and Ovid MEDLINE were searched. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Included were peer-reviewed studies that evaluated UHC policies, programmes and progress towards achieving UHC of maternal health services in LMICs, reported primary research and conducted in all healthcare settings. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two independent reviewers screened and appraised eligible studies using preset criteria based on a 'population-concept-context' framework.
resultsThe initial search resulted in 959 studies of 61 articles selected in the final review. Most studies provided international (eg, Sustainable Development Goals, n=35), and national context on health system reforms related to healthcare financing and budgets (n=36). While progress was made on the coverage of maternal health services, the equity in maternal health service access was low for most studies. Both studies evaluating interventions and those not evaluating interventions reported high coverage in maternal health indicators, with antenatal care showing low coverage (n=7, 41%), skilled birth attendance (n=6, 55%) and facility delivery (n=6, 60%), while postnatal care coverage remained variable across studies. Two studies reported high coverage of caesarean section births (n=2, 100%). Studies evaluating intervention found equity improved in access and utilisation of maternal health services; conversely, evaluation without intervention for most studies identified low equity in access and utilisation of maternal health services. High inequity in determinants of maternal health outcomes was reported across studies measuring equity domains.
conclusionsCountries have many approaches to reaching UHC and tackling the problem of achieving UHC for maternal healthcare. Therefore, policymakers in LMICs must decide how to allocate limited resources to prioritise coverage, equity or quality of maternal healthcare.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.