Predictors of facility-based delivery utilization in central Ethiopia: A case-control study

Home delivery among women who had optimal ANC follow-up in Sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel analysis

BACKGROUND

Home deliveries, where most births take place, are significantly responsible for the majority of maternal mortality. In order to develop appropriate policies and methods that could aid in addressing the issue, it is important to understand the scope of home delivery and its determinants in developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to ascertain the prevalence and factors associated with home delivery among women who had optimal ANC follow up in the Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

METHODS

A population based cross-sectional study was conducted. Data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys, which covered 23 Sub-Saharan Africa countries from 2014 to 2020, were used. The study used a total of 180,551 women who had optimal ANC follow up weighted sample. Stata 14 was used to analyze the data. The determinants of home delivery were determined using a multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression model. Factors associated with home delivery in the multilevel logistic regression model were declared significant at p-values <0.05. The adjusted odds ratio and confidence interval were used to interpret the results.

RESULTS

In Sub-Saharan Africa, three in ten (30%) women who had optimal ANC follow-up gave birth at home. Individual-level variables such as maternal age (20 to 35 years) (AOR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.46), no formal education (AOR = 3.10, 95% CI: 2.68, 3.59), pregnancy complications (AOR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.82), distance to a health facility (AOR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.30, 1.58), and poor wealth status (AOR = 2.71, 95% CI: 2.37, 3.10) had higher odds of home delivery. Community-level variables such as rural residence (AOR = 2.83, 95% CI: 2.48, 3.22), living in central Sub-Saharan Africa (AOR = 7.95, 95% CI: 5.81, 10.9), and eastern Sub-Saharan Africa (AOR = 2.74, 95% CI: 2.09, 3.59), were significantly associated with home delivery.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

This study concludes that home delivery in sub-Saharan Africa among women who had optimal ANC follow-up were high. The study identified that both individual and community-level variables were determinants of home delivery. Therefore, the Government and ministries of health in Sub-Saharan Africa countries should give attention to those women who reported distance as a big problem to health facilities and for rural resident women while designing policies and strategies targeting reducing home delivery in sub-Saharan Africa.

Complication experience during pregnancy and place of delivery among pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Unlike other causes such as abortion, obstetric complications like hemorrhage, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which are difficult to resolve for women who give birth out of health facilities are persisted or increased to be the cause of maternal mortality in Ethiopia. Direct obstetric complications resulted in the crude direct obstetric case fatality rate in this country. This study aimed to assess the relationship between Complication Experience during Pregnancy and Place of Delivery among Pregnant Women.

METHOD

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the baseline information as a part of a randomized control trial study. The sample size that was calculated for the cohort study with the assumptions to detect an increase in a minimum acceptable diet from 11 to 31%, with 95% CIs and 80% power, an intra-cluster correlation coefficient of 0·2 for a cluster size of 10 was used for this study. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 22.

RESULT

The prevalence of self-reported pregnancy-related complications and home delivery were 79(15.9%, CI; 12.7-19.1) and 46.90% (95%CI; 42.5-51.1) respectively. Women who did not face vaginal bleeding were five times AOR 5.28(95% CI: 1.79-15.56) more like to give birth at home than those who faced this problem. Women who did not face severe headache were nearly three AOR 2.45(95%CI:1.01-5.97) times more like to give birth at home.

CONCLUSION

This study concluded that home delivery was high among the study participants whereas pregnancy-related complications such as vaginal bleeding and severe headache were identified as protective factors for facility delivery. Hence, the researchers recommended the incorporation of "storytelling" into the existing health extension program packages to improve facility delivery which shall be applied after the approval of its effectiveness by further research.

Birth preparedness and complication readiness practice and associated factors among pregnant women in Central Ethiopia, 2021: A cross-sectional study

Background

Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) is an intervention designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an essential element of the antenatal (ANC) package with a concept of a global strategy to reduce maternal mortality. In Ethiopia, the proportion of pregnant women preparing for birth and related complications has remained low. Whereas, the need for additional study is indicated to add more evidence to the country’s efforts to end preventable maternal death.

Methods

A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 01 to May 01, 2021. A systematic random sampling technique was applied to recruit 422 pregnant women. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression was fitted to identify factors associated with BP/CR practice. Variables with a p-value ≤ 0.25 on the bivariable analysis were included in multivariable analysis. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with the respective 95% confidence interval (CI) and a p-value <0.05 was used to set statistically significant variables in the multivariable analysis.

Results

A total of 414 pregnant women have participated in the study. The overall BP/CR practice level was 44.9% (95% CI: 40.1, 49.7). Preconception care utilization (PCC) (AOR = 2.31; 95% CI:1.38–3.86), urban residents (AOR = 2.00; 95% CI:1.21–3.31), knowledge of BP/CR (AOR = 2.29; 95% CI:1.27–3.47), knowledge of danger signs during pregnancy (AOR = 2.05; 95% CI:1.21–3.47), knowledge of danger signs in newborns (AOR = 2.06; 95% CI:1.21–3.47), starting ANC visits in the 1^st and 2^nd trimester (AOR = 2.52; 95% CI:1.40–4.52), number of ANC visit ≥ three (AOR = 1.66; 95% CI;1.01–2.74), knowing Expected Date of Delivery (EDD) (AOR = 3.71; 95% CI:2.01–6.82), and joint decision-making on obstetric services (AOR = 3.51; 95% CI;1.99–6.20) were factors significantly associated with BP/CR practice.

Conclusion

Based on the WHO standard, this study revealed a low level of BP/CR practice among pregnant women, with only less than half of women adequately prepared for childbirth and its complications. Moreover, it has been shown that BP/CR practice is influenced by socio-economic, maternal knowledge, and health service-related factors. Therefore, improving the status of BP/CR practice by expanding awareness creation opportunities, strengthening PCC and early ANC initiation by improving pregnant women’s understanding, and promoting joint decision-making on obstetric services are recommended.