Respectful maternity care: Women's experiences of disrespect and abuse during childbirth in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria.

Abstract

Disrespect and abuse during childbirth can be described as a violation of the human rights of concerned parturients. The occurrence of these events may negatively impact upon uptake of antenatal and delivery services by pregnant women and this in turn may contribute to an increased maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. Disrespect and abuse during childbirth is a relatively common occurrence and little research has been done on this issue that could negatively affect our health care indices. This study was carried out among recently delivered women (women who had delivered not more than 6 weeks previously), attending pre-identified child immunization clinics in Ilorin. Women who had Caesarean delivery, preterm delivery, instrumental vaginal delivery and women with multiple delivery in which one of the babies suffered a mortality were excluded. 
Two hundred and seventy-one recently delivered women were recruited. The mean age was 27.67 ± 3.85. Majority of respondents were Muslim (68.3%), married (98.9%) and had at least a secondary school education (76.4%). The commonest place of delivery was a secondary health care facility (40.6%) and the most frequent attendant at delivery was a doctor (39.9%). Forms of disrespect and abuse experienced by respondents included non-consented care, being left alone for prolonged periods, (88.6%), being ignored when they called for help (10.7%) and undue detention at facility due to non-payment of bills (6.3%). Despite the foregoing however, 8.1% believed they received disrespectful and abusive care. 
There is a disconnect between women's actual child-birth experiences and report of disrespect and abuse during childbirth. There is a need to improve education of women and providers about what constitutes disrespect and abuse during childbirth as this will translate into increased confidence uptake of facility births and a reduction in maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality.