Access to Maternal Healthcare: A qualitative case study examining women’s access to and the barriers they face in accessing maternal healthcare in Bản Luốc Commune

Abstract

This study explores women’s access to maternal healthcare in Bản Luốc Commune, a rural and mountainous region of northern Vietnam. Using Levesque et al.’s Conceptual Framework of Healthcare Access and applying an intersectional lens, the study examines how women perceive and experience access to maternal care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Through semi-structured interviews, the study identifies persistent barriers across five dimensions of access, approachability, acceptability, availability and accommodation, affordability, and appropriateness. Findings show that although government policies and subsidies have improved access, inequalities remain. Structural and intersectional factors such as women’s ethnic identity, socioeconomic status, and remoteness continue to constrain women’s ability to fully obtain and benefit from care. The study underscores that equitable access to maternal healthcare must be understood to be limited by multifaceted dimensions of barriers throughout the healthcare system. These limitations are further reinforced by underlying power structures that uphold inequities in women’s access to maternal healthcare.