Vaginal or Caesarean Delivery? A Comparative Study of Factors Associated with the Choice Method of Childbirth Delivery in Kenya and Egypt

Background: Childbirth delivery today is becoming a complex process. There exist linkages between choice method of childbirth delivery, whether vaginal or caesarean section, and socioeconomic, maternal, and pregnancy-related factors. Study objectives: To compare the choice method of childbirth delivery among women of childbearing ages in Kenya and Egypt. Specifically, the study sought to (a) show patterns of caesarean section births in the two countries using women’s background characteristics, (b) estimate levels and differentials of caesarean births in the two countries and, (c) investigate the socio-economic, maternal and pregnancy-related factors that determine the choice of caesarean section deliveries in the two countries Data and methods: Data was derived from the 2014 Kenya and Egypt demographic and health surveys women-file. The data was fitted in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences in which descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Majority of Egyptian women (53.5%) gave birth by caesarean section compared to Kenyan women (7.8%). At descriptive analysis level, all the study variables were significant at ρ