Strategies For Improving Utilization Of Ante-Natal Health Services By Women Of Child Bearing Age
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Strategies For Improving Utilization Of Ante-Natal Health Services By Women Of Child Bearing Age
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Maternal and child health are global priorities. It refers to the stage of a woman’s life during which she is pregnant, gives birth, and receives postnatal care. It is inextricably tied to the prenatal care of children.
This refers to the period of gestation and the month following birth. Several treaties, initiatives, and programmes have been developed to promote the health and well-being of pregnant women and children.
The most recent endeavour is the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to encourage countries to significantly reduce maternal and child mortality while also addressing specific diseases and related difficulties (United National Millennium Development 2015).
According to Balliere’s Nurse Dictionary (1995), pregnancy is the period between conception and the ejection of the foetus. The average length is 280 days, or 40 weeks.
During this time, expectant mother care must be intensified in order to provide women with the necessary supervision, care, and advice during pregnancy, labour, and postpartum
– this is referred to as anti-natal care, which should include the responsibility to conduct deliveries and care for newborns and infants. This anti-natal treatment involves preventive measures, early diagnosis of abnormal conditions in both mother and child, and advice on how to carry out emergency procedures in the absence of medical aid.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO 2011), mother and child health is one of the world’s most pressing and neglected health issues, as well as a source of human rights violation, with around 515,000 women’s rights violated each year.
Whatever a country’s stage of development, it is critical that its health policy include activities aimed at caring for mothers and children, particularly during pregnancy and delivery, in order to reduce the rate of maternal morbidity and mortality among women aged 15 to 49 and children of all ages (WHO, 2011).
The International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (EGO) defines maternal health as a condition that occurs during pregnancy, labour, or as a result of pregnancy within 42 days of delivery or abortion.
According to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA 2010), Nigeria has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world. The most current official document reported 630 maternal fatalities per 100,000 live births, compared to 116/100,000 in industrialised countries. Most underdeveloped countries continue to have poor maternal and child health outcomes.
The same is true for South Africa, despite its middle-income position; local data reveal an increase in neonatal and under-five mortality, and material health status is also suboptimal. South Africa has ratified practically all international conventions, initiatives, and programs.
A concerted effort must be made to correct and address the underlying factors to inadequate mother and child health care, many of which are outside of the health sector.
Health services have a crucial role to play, and at the absolute least, health interventions with proven efficacy must be administered as efficiently as feasible. All sectors must be held accountable for their contributions to enhancing mother and child health (WHO, 2010).
In general, health is a precious commodity that everyone seeks to possess; it can be influenced by a number of circumstances, including: Cultural aspects refer to the way people live. This manner of life includes the organisation and method of collecting food from the most convenient location, as well as the method of adjusting it.
It also contains laws and regulations governing people’s behaviour in a certain society. It also includes beliefs, religion, moral behaviour, and whatever the individuals involved have created with their available resources and knowledge; culture is something that has formed over time based on two people’s experiences.
Example of a custom in which a woman returns to her parental house during childbirth and remains there until the baby is weaned. This is typical practice in many rural Nigerian communities (PHCFMOH, 1990).
Education is an economic factor that can influence one’s health because it leads to enlightenment. Educated people are less likely to be controlled by various cultural beliefs, practices, and taboos that are harmful to health;
thus, the more educated the population, the better their health. Poverty and ignorance are prevalent issues in the Nigerian community. Because all of the causes mentioned above can lead to poor health and other problems such as malnutrition and anaemia.
Statement of the Problem
All pregnant women are expected to visit an approved health centre because child care begins during the first trimester of pregnancy. According to statistical statistics, from 2016 to 2017, 2,625 women registered for antenatal care, but only 1085 delivered (Health Department Monitoring Evaluation Unit, Kano Municipal Council of Kano State).
Nigeria is still at varied phases of development; many women still give birth at home without visiting an antenatal clinic, while some expecting moms visit the clinic merely to obtain a card and for emergency reasons. According to the registration records, some women do not attend the clinic or return to post-natal care.
The entire notion of health is preventive rather than curative; health facilities are located within communities, making it easy to attend; nonetheless, utilisation among expecting women is low.
As a result, it is critical to assist and motivate pregnant women to efficiently use government health services at maternity and child health centres.
According to ante-natal clinic statistics in Kano Municipal Council, the number of expectant mothers who were booked in ante-natal clinics was 1,320 between July 2016 and July 2017, with 120 pregnant women booked every week and 480 pregnant mothers per month.
However, between August 2016 and July 2017, the figure decreased from 480 to 400 per month, with a total population of 1,200 pregnant moms observed. All of these could be a promotional technique to increase mother and newborn mortality and morbidity rates.
Health workers play an essential role in the management of pregnant women, ensuring that clients receive proper care from conception to birth and beyond. Unfortunately, many women nowadays perceive health providers as rude, overconfident, causing unnecessary delays, aggressive, and insufficiently qualified.
The task now is to determine what is causing expecting moms’ sudden low attendance at antenatal appointments. Based on the rapid change in attitude of expecting mothers towards attending ANC, the researcher intends to identify solutions for improving antenatal service utilisation in Kano Municipal Council, Kano State.
The purpose of the study
In general, the study aims to identify solutions for increasing women of childbearing age’s use of antenatal health care. Specifically, the study aims to
i. Ascertain pregnant women’s attitudes towards health care.
ii. Identify the barriers that prevent women of childbearing age from seeking maternity and child health care.
iii. Develop measures to improve the use of health services by pregnant women in Kano Municipal Council, Kano State.
Significance of the Study
This project aims to enhance pregnant moms’ awareness on how to effectively use government health services. Also, I hope that the local government is aware of the importance of motivating pregnant women to use maternal and child health services, and that the authority understands the issues that prevent clinics from being used, so that maternal deaths are reduced while also increasing the likelihood of good access and utilisation.
This study will also assist health workers working in health facilities in understanding and recognising their own weaknesses, as well as ways for providing services that will improve maternal and child health care, hence increasing the likelihood of women using them.
The study’s findings will help to reduce maternal mortality rates and improve the general well-being of women in the community, decreasing resource and manpower waste.
When the study is completed, the variables responsible for pregnant mothers’ poor attendance at antenatal clinics will be identified, and positive improvements will be implemented
particularly when suitable knowledge, skills, attitude, values, and a code of conduct for health workers are included. The results will be an important tool for the clinician, the pregnant mother, and the management.
Research Questions
The study’s goal is to identify solutions for boosting antenatal health service utilisation among women of childbearing age. Thus, the study will be led by the following research questions:
I. What are pregnant moms’ perceptions regarding antenatal health services?
ii. How do health personnel interact with expecting mothers at Kano Municipal Council’s antenatal clinics?
iii. What are the measures for increasing the use of health services by pregnant mothers in Kano Municipal Council, Kano State?
Scope of the Study
The study aims to determine pregnant women’s attitudes about the use of health services in Kano Municipal Council, as well as to identify solutions for enhancing pregnant moms’ use of services in the local government.
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