Pay for a free service, access to cesarean section in the slums of Dakar

El Hadji Malick Sylla, African Population And Health Research Center
Ndèye Awa FALL, APHRC
Arsène Brunelle Sandie, African Population and Health Research Center
Fadima Yaya Bocoum, IRSS
Diarra Bousso Senghor, African Population and Health Research Center
Barrel Sow Guèye, A
Birane Cissé, UCAD
Ibrahima Sy, UCAD
Cheikh Mbacke Faye, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)

Equitable access to cesarean section still represents a major challenge for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, particularly among disadvantaged populations where nearly 50% of maternal deaths are recorded. This situation is even more exacerbated in slums, where women experience enormous difficulties in financially accessing expensive health care such as cesarean section. It is in this context that this article fits, which aims to study access to cesarean section among women living in the slums of Dakar in the context of a policy of free cesarean section in Senegal. Two quantitative surveys were carried out among 18 managers of public and private health facilities offering cesarean section and among 260 women living in the slums. The results show that in Dakar there is no social or economic discrimination regarding access to cesarean section. However, women paid financial amounts, sometimes substantial, to undergo the cesarean section despite the policy of free c-sections.