Access to maternal health services for Indigenous women in low- and middle-income countries: an updated integrative review of the literature from 2018 to 2023.

Abstract

Introduction: Ninety-seven per cent of Indigenous Peoples live in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). A previous systematic integrative review of articles published between 2000 and 2017 identified numerous barriers for Indigenous women in LMICs in accessing maternal healthcare services. It is timely given the aim of achieving Universal Health Coverage in six years' time, by 2030, to undertake another review. This article updates the previous review exploring the recent available literature on Indigenous women's access to maternal health services in LMICs identifying barriers to services.

Methods: An integrative review of literature published between 2018 and 2023 was undertaken. This review followed a systematic process using Whittemore and Knafl's five-step framework for integrative reviews and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 944 articles were identified from six databases: Academic Search Premier, MEDLINE, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL Plus with Full Text and APA PsycArticles (through EBSCOhost). The search was undertaken on 16 January 2023. After screening of the title/abstract and the full text using inclusion and exclusion criteria 26 articles were identified. Critical appraisal resulted in 24 articles being included in the review. Data were extracted using a matrix informed by Penchansky and Thomas's taxonomy, extended by Saurman, which focused on six dimensions of access to health care: affordability, accessibility, availability, accommodation, acceptability and awareness. Ten studies took place in Asia, 10 studies were from the Americas and four studies took place in the African region. Seventeen articles were qualitative, two were quantitative and five were mixed methods. The methods for the integrative review were prespecified in a protocol, registered at Open Science Framework.

Results: Barriers identified included affordability; community awareness of services including poor communication between providers and women; the availability of services, with staff often missing from the facilities; poor quality services, which did not consider the cultural and spiritual needs of Indigenous Peoples; an overreliance on the biomedical model; a lack of facilities to enable appropriate maternal care; services that did not accommodate the everyday needs of women, including work and family responsibilities; lack of understanding of Indigenous cultures from health professionals; and evidence of obstetric violence and mistreatment of Indigenous women.

Conclusion: Barriers to Indigenous women's access to maternal health services are underpinned by the social exclusion and marginalisation of Indigenous Peoples. Empowerment of Indigenous women and communities in LMICs is required as well as initiatives to challenge the stigmatisation and marginalisation that they face. The importance of community involvement in design and interventions that support the political and human rights of Indigenous Peoples are required. Limitations of this review include the possibility of missing articles as it was sometimes unclear from the articles whether a particular group was from an Indigenous community. More research on access to services in the postnatal period is still needed, as well as quality quantitative research. There is also a lack of research on Indigenous groups in North Africa, and in sub-Saharan Africa - especially hunter-gatherer groups - as well as the impact of COVID-19 on access to services.