Revista de atención de la salud de la mujer
Acceso abierto

abstracto

Factors Enabling Women to Attend Health Facility Delivery in Gullele Sub City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Qualitative Study

Mikias Negash1*, Bizuwork Haile2

Background: Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in most of the developing world. Health facility delivery is one of the recommended approaches in order to reduce maternal and child mortality rates. Understanding the reasons for choosing institutional delivery and its barriers in low income setting helps to maximize the coverage.

Methods: A qualitative study design was used to collect data from mothers visiting a health facility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Data were collected using semi-structured interview guide questions based on predefined themes. The data were transcribed in Amharic (the local language) then translated to English and coded using N-Vivo Version 10 to respective nodes. Aggregated ideas were summarized in memos and linked with the nodes.

Result: A total of 19 women were interviewed and the results showed that awareness about institutional delivery, health professionals approach, accessibility and availability of medication at health facilities, lack of trust on traditional birth attendants, and free of charge delivery services at institution level were mentioned as the most important factors for choosing institutional delivery. On the other hand, fear of exposing body to unfamiliar persons, previous normal delivery at home, negligence by health professionals and fear of students who practice at the health institutions were mentioned as barriers to attend institutional delivery.

Conclusion: Proper counseling of mothers and partners about the importance of health facility delivery, expanding availability of free and quality services, respect and interactive approach to mothers, linking mothers to health facility for delivery by health extension workers should be scalded up for improved institutional delivery.