Women's health in urban Mali: Social predictors and health itineraries

► In urban Mali, important social mediators of women's health include marital status and type, social network and power. ► Women with lower household wealth index are more likely to report an illness in the preceding three months. ► Polygyny is negatively associated with support by husbands during pregnancy and with use of contraception. ► Partially due to their age, widows report higher frequency of illness and resort less often to biomedical care. ► These findings highlight the need to target widows and pregnant polygynous women as potentially vulnerable subgroups.