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Preferred place of childbirth in rural southern Nigeria: a necessary step towards maternal death reduction.
Abstract
Delivery outside orthodox health facilities without the assistance of a skilled birth attendant with consequent adverse maternal outcome is common in many developing countries. This cross sectional study using structured interviewer administered questionnaire for data collection was designed to determine the preferred place of delivery in the index pregnancy amongst antenatal attendees. Out of the 178 respondents, 35.4% were aged 25-29 years. Most (36%) were para 1 to 2, traders (40%), and about half had at least secondary education. Among the women who had previous home delivery, 84.2% preferred hospital delivery in index pregnancy. Overall, about 40% had hospital delivery in the last confinement. However, 93.8% preferred hospital delivery in the index pregnancy (p=0.0001). Cost 0.6%, distance 1.1%, Trust in God for safety 2.2%, self confidence 1.7% and harshness of hospital staff 0.6% were reasons for preference to deliver outside the hospital. Preference for hospital delivery was not associated with education (0.97) and parity (0.85).The study finds that majority of the women preferred hospital delivery. Tackling the challenges to hospital delivery and improving the quality of maternity services in orthodox health facilities will help to reduce maternal deaths in developing countries.
Keywords: Place of childbirth, millennium development goals, home delivery, maternal death, Nigeria.
