Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness: A Study of Postpartum Women in a Rural District of Ghana

摘要

Adequate birth preparedness and complication readiness planning could determine the survival of a pregnant woman and her unborn child. The aim of this study was to determine the status of birth preparedness and complication readiness among postpartum women in the Sisala East District of Ghana. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in 40 communities of the district. The results from 400 respondents showed that 58.0% of the respondents sought prenatal care during the first trimester of pregnancy while 1.5% did not seek any prenatal care in the entire duration of their pregnancy. Home deliveries formed 63.25% of deliveries in the study sample which was mainly attributed to the lack of health facilities in the study communities. Age (p = 0.001), educational level (p=0.001) and socio-economic status of respondents were significantly associated with the use of skilled delivery services. Also, 79.0% of the respondents were aware of the possibility of severe bleeding during pregnancy while 72.8% mentioned eclampsia as one of the dangers or risks during labour. Only 23% of the respondents met or followed the steps of birth preparedness and complication readiness plan. Factors that were found to influence birth preparedness and complication readiness include; number of deliveries (p=0.001), wealth index (p=0.001), level of education (p=0.001), marital status (p=0.001), number of ANC visits (p=0.004) and knowledge of danger signs (p=0.001). Only 4.5% of the communities had emergency transport arrangements for pregnant women whereas none of them had emergency financial support services for pregnant women. It is important therefore to continuously maintain the strategies to get women plan adequately for child birth and thus equally ready in the event of pregnancy and birth complications.