Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Maternal deaths are the second biggest killer of women of reproductive age. High maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa reflect inequities in health services. This study explored how intersecting factors such as gender, class, and other social relations shape access to healthcare among a selected group of HIV-positive Kenyan. Guided by a postcolonial feminist perspective, the study employed semi-structured interviews to elicit the perspectives of key institutional actors on the challenges and constraints of the health services landscape and in-depth interviews to gain insight into the lived experiences of individual women’s access to healthcare within the healthcare and social context of a purposively selected large Kenyan town. Key institutional actors’ perspective indicated that the healthcare system is complex, in flux, and homogenized women. They acknowledged that a lack of adequate healthcare funding resulted in unmet needs for people living with HIV, gaps in training of health practitioners and shortage of medical equipment and supplies. Women’s narratives revealed the complexities of their lives. Women’s diversity and agency were reflected in their stories about how they accessed healthcare within this complex healthcare system and within the existing social constraints in this setting. Women engaged with patriarchy and employed various strategies to access healthcare and strive for positive living. Positive social interactions such as social support were instrumental in motivating women’s access to healthcare. Negative social interactions, such as stigma, blame and social obligations, worked to both hamper and motivate women to access healthcare. Women’s social class intersected with gender and these other social relations to determine their access to healthcare. A lack of consideration of women’s heterogeneity results in a failure to account for how structures of oppression and gendered inequities translate into diverse material risks for women and impact their ability to access healthcare. A postcolonial feminist perspective, that listened to silenced and homogenized voices, is an effective tool to unmask the circumstances and conditions that affected women’s access to healthcare. This study contributes to the research on maternal health in countries with high maternal mortality and provides the basis for planning and implementing equitable care at local and national levels.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Allison Gayapersad
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2609390714