Utilization of Institutional Delivery Services among Women Bringing their Children for BCG in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Home delivery, with or without the presence of a birth attendant is usually the cheapest option, but is associated with some risks. This study was done to determine the rate of home delivery and the presence of a skilled attendant at delivery among women in Jos. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional study of all mothers of new born babies bringing in their babies for immunization for the first time in the child welfare clinic. A semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire was administered to the women noting their socio- demographic data, antenatal care, place of delivery, method of delivery and attendances at delivery. Results: A total of 359 women were recruited for the study with a response rate of 83%. The mean age of the respondents was 28 ± 5.6 years. Majority of the women (52.2%) were Hausa- Fulani; 135 (45.3%) had at least secondary school education. A significant number of the women; 288 (97.3%) attended at least one antenatal care clinic (ANC) while pregnant. The average number of ANC attended was two. 180(36.6%) delivered at home. Two hundred and eight (69.8%) were attended to by a trained health care worker. Ninety women (30.2%) were attended to by unskilled birth attendants. Of those that delivered at home, only 18.6% were attended to by skilled birth attendants while 82.4% were attended to by unskilled birth attendants (p<0.0001). Lower educational status and grand multiparity had a statistical significant association with home delivery all with a p<0.0001. Conclusion: Despite the attendance of women at ANC, the utilization of health services for delivery is still poor with a high percentage of home delivery in the absence of a skilled attendant at birth; even in a population that had apparently good health behaviour.

Key Words Utilization; institutional delivery; home delivery; skilled attendants