Caste in Muslim Pakistan: a structural determinant of inequities in the uptake of maternal health services.

ABSTRACT: The failure to reduce maternal mortality rates in high-burden countries has led to calls for a greater understanding of structural determinants of inequities in access to maternal health services. Caste is a socially constructed identity that imposes structural disadvantages on subordinate groups. Although a South Asian construct, the existence of caste as a structural social stratifier is actively rejected in Muslim Pakistan as a regressive symbol of Hinduism. In this inimical context, the possibility of caste as a driver of maternal health care inequities is not acknowledged and has, therefore, remained unexplored in Pakistan. The objective of the present study is to quantitatively assess the variation in the use of maternity services across different caste groups in Pakistan. The resear

SUBMITTER: Mumtaz Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9067991 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature