<b>Does postpartum welfare clinic utilization impact child survival? Evidence from a cross-sectional study of postnatal healthcare determinants in Ghana.</b>

Many studies focus narrowly on single clinical interventions, such as specific routine vaccines or exclusive breastfeeding, without assessing the cumulative impact of overall postnatal welfare clinic attendance patterns and check frequencies relative to structural and socioeconomic determinants. Furthermore, out-of-pocket indirect expenses, spatial distance to health centers, and maternal socioeconomic status continue to act as major confounding drivers of both service utilization and child survival outcomes across Ghanaian communities.

Understanding whether, and to what extent, postpartum CWC utilization reduces the hazard of under-five mortality is essential for refining national PHC policies and accelerating progress toward SDG 3.2. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of postpartum CWC utilization and postnatal healthcare determinants on under-five child survival, utilizing retrospective cross-sectional data from two underserved (Volta and Northern) regions in Ghana.</p>