Maternal complications in a geographically challenging and hard to reach district of Bangladesh: a qualitative study

Maternal healthcare utilization in rural Bangladesh: A comparative analysis between high and low disaster-prone areas

This study examined the disparity in antenatal care (ANC) visits and institutional delivery between high-disaster-prone (HDP) and low-disaster-prone (LDP) areas, defined based on multi-hazards, in Bangladesh and assessed the influencing factors using Andersen's behavioral model. In this study, cross-sectional data of 345 mothers, who had live birth the year preceding the survey, were used from the second-round multipurpose survey of a longitudinal research project conducted in May-June 2011. Hierarchical multinomial logistic and binary logistic models were respectively used to assess the determinants of ANC contacts and choice of childbirth place. We found very low utilization of 4+ ANC visits in both HDP (20%) and LDP (15%) areas. The difference is also not significant. The strong influencing factors of receiving 4+ ANC were mother's education, household size, income, and proximity to health facility. The level of institutional delivery was also low (21%), and no significant difference between HDP (15.2%) and LDP (25.7%) was found. However, in the case of institutional delivery, significant (p-value ≤ .01) difference was found in C-section between HDP (42%) and LDP (79%). A significant (p-value ≤ .05) difference was also found in the attendance of graduate doctors/gynecologists between HDP (58%) and LDP (88%). Mothers of HDP areas were 52 percent less likely to choose institutional delivery compared to those of LDP areas. Moreover, there was 30 percent less likelihood of choosing institutional delivery with an increase in distance to the nearest health facility. Specific demand-side (e.g., awareness raising, expanding maternal voucher scheme, covering more mothers under maternal allowance, and facilitating more income-generating activities especially off-farm ones) and supply-side interventions (e.g., providing training to local traditional birth attendants, and deployment of boat-based medical teams in coastal and char areas) need to be undertaken to increase institutional delivery, especially in HDP areas. However, the ultimate solution depends on adopting long-term measures to prepare facilities ready by filling the vacant posts and reducing absenteeism. Public-private partnerships modality can also be introduced especially in the HDP areas. Policy attention is needed to introduce such interventions.

An assessment of the role of socio-economic, maternal and service utilization factors in increasing self-reported maternal complications in India

Background

Self-reported maternal complications are associated with maternal morbidity, deliveries by C-section, postpartum depression, and maternal death. Thus, it is necessary to examine the contribution of socio-demographic and maternal characteristics, as well as service utilization in the rising self-reporting of maternal complications (difficulty with daylight vision, convulsions, swelling of the legs, body or face, heavy vaginal bleeding or high fever) in India. The study aimed at examining the factors that have influenced the increasing prevalence of maternal complications between 2005–06 and 2015–16 in India.

Methods

Data from the two most recent rounds of the National Family Health Survey, which covered a sample of 36,850 and 190,898 women respectively who delivered in the last five years preceding the survey has been used. Logistic regression analysis was performed to carve out the factors which significantly contributed to maternal complications among women aged 15 – 49 years in India. With the help of the Fairlie decomposition technique, the study quantified the contribution of factors which influenced the changes in maternal complications in the period from 2005–06 to 2015–16.

Results

A significant increase was seen in the prevalence of maternal complications — from 43.6% to 53.7% between the years 2005–06 and 2015–16. About 21% of the increase could be explained by certain maternal, households level factors, service utilization and birth outcomes. For example, service utilization, in which 13% was attributed to the place of delivery and 6% to postnatal care, was the major contributor to the increase in maternal complications from 2005–06 to 2015–16). This was followed by individual-level factors like education (2%), body mass index (4%) and tobacco use,. It was also found that household-level factors like standard of living (-3.7%) and region (-1.4%), and birth weight contributed to the reduction of complications during the period.

Conclusion

The increase in the prevalence of maternal complications in India could be attributed mainly attributed to increase in reporting behavior, an outcome of increased utilization of maternal healthcare services, and increase in BMI. However, reduced prevalence of maternal complications can be attributed to the decrease in the prevalence of low-birth-weight babies and tobacco use among women in India.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-021-03997-x.

Exploring the perceptions, practices and challenges to maternal and newborn health care among the underprivileged teagarden community in Bangladesh: a qualitative study

Poor health care-seeking behaviour, access to services and availability of service delivery have implications for the health of the community. This study explored the perceptions, practices and challenges related to maternal and neonatal care in the teagarden community in Bangladesh. The study also identified service gaps and problems prevalent in teagarden health facilities. A qualitative study was conducted in five teagardens in the Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were completed with individuals from the teagarden community, and twelve in-depth interviews (IDIs) were performed with health facility staff working in those teagarden facilities. Misconceptions and harmful traditional practices were found to exist among the families in the teagardens, restricting them from accessing quality health care. Pregnant women are not aware of antenatal care, and deliveries are being conducted at home by untrained birth attendants. Unhygienic and harmful postnatal practices are used. Teagarden health facilities are not well equipped or prepared to provide good care. Inequities exist within the teagarden communities, with unregistered workers having even poorer access to care. Improvement of the quality of maternal health care for this marginalised community is needed to progress maternal health.

Factors Associated with Maternal Deaths in a Hard-To-Reach Marginalized Rural Community of Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Every year in Bangladesh, approximately 5200 mothers die (172 maternal deaths/100,000 live births) due to maternal complications. The death rate is much higher in hard-to-reach areas and underprivileged communities, such as Bangladesh’s tea gardens. The women living in the tea garden areas are deprived of quality health care services due to inadequate knowledge, education, and access to health care services. Poverty and early marriage, followed by early pregnancy, are also triggering factors of maternal deaths in this community. This study explored the factors associated with maternal deaths in the underprivileged tea garden community in the Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh. It was a cross-sectional study conducted between January and March 2018. All maternal deaths reported by government health care providers in two sub-districts of Moulvibazar during 2017 were selected for community verbal autopsy using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was performed on quantitative data, and content analysis was performed on qualitative data. A total of 34 maternal deaths were reported in the two sub-districts in 2017, among which 15 deaths (44%) occurred in the tea garden catchment areas, where about 34% people live in the two upazilas. The majority of the mothers who died in the tea gardens delivered their babies at home (80%), many of whom also died at home (40%). Only 27% of women who died in the tea gardens received four or more antenatal care visits. Post-partum hemorrhage was found to be the leading cause of death (47%), followed by anemia (33%) and eclampsia (20%). There is a persistent high maternal mortality observed in the marginalized tea gardens, as compared to the general community of the Moulvibazar district, Bangladesh. The sustainable development goal (SDG) that has been set for maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 70/100,000 live births in Bangladesh. The findings of our study show that focused intervention is needed to reduce the burden of maternal deaths, which will improve the overall maternal health situation and also reach the SDG on time.

Timely referral saves the lives of mothers and newborns: Midwifery led continuum of care in marginalized teagarden communities - A qualitative case study in Bangladesh

Background: Prompt and efficient identification, referral of pregnancy related complications and emergencies are key factors to the reduction of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. As a response to this critical need, a midwifery led continuum of reproductive health care was introduced in five teagardens in the Sylhet division, Bangladesh during 2016. Within this intervention, professional midwives provided reproductive healthcare to pregnant teagarden women in the community.  This study evaluates the effect of the referral of pregnancy related complications. Methods: A qualitative case study design by reviewing records retrospectively was used to explore the effect of deploying midwives on referrals of pregnancy related complications from the selected teagardens to the referral health facilities in Moulvibazar district of the Sylhet division during 2016.  In depth analyses was also performed on 15 randomly selected cases to understand the facts behind the referral. Results: Out of a total population of 450 pregnant women identified by the midwives, 72 complicated mothers were referred from the five teagardens to the facilities. 76.4% of mothers were referred to conduct delivery at facilities, and 31.1% of them were referred with the complication of prolonged labour. Other major complications were pre-eclampsia (17.8%), retention of the placenta with post-partum hemorrhage (11.1%) and premature rupture of the membrane (8.9%). About 60% of complicated mothers were referred to the primary health care centre, and among them 14% of mothers were delivered by caesarean section. 94% deliveries resulted in livebirths and only 6% were stillbirths. Conclusions: This study reveals that early detection of pregnancy complications by skilled professionals and timely referral to a facility is beneficial in saving the majority of baby's as well as mother's lives in resource-poor teagardens with a considerable access barrier to health facilities.