Title:
Utilization of Safe Motherhood Initiative Services among Women of Childbearing Age Accessing Care at Tertiary Health Facility in Anambra State

Authors:
IFEANYI, Chinyere Nneka, ILO, Ifeyinwa Clementine, Nigeria

Abstract:

Safe motherhood has been conceptualized as a means of ensuring women's accessibility to needed care through antenatal programme in order to facilitate their safety and optimal health throughout pregnancy and childbirth (Igbokwe and Adama, 2011). This study assessed the utilization of certain safe motherhood initiative services among women of childbearing age that attended a tertiary health institution in Anambra State, Nigeria. Three research objectives and hypotheses were formulated for the study. Sample of 424 participants was drawn from a population of 1060 women accessing care at study area through Taro Yameni formula for sample size calculation. The instrument used for data collection was researcher's structured questionnaire which was validated and tested for internal consistency with reliability index of 0.86. A total of 422 questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS version 22. Kruskal-Wallis H Test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study revealed that greater number of the women of childbearing age utilize safe motherhood initiative services such as antenatal and post natal care. This not with standing there is evidence of poor utilization of family planning services by the women. The study further showed that their age does not significantly influence the utilization of safe motherhood initiative services among the women (p = 0.789). Study also revealed a significant difference in the utilization of safe motherhood among women of different educational levels (p < .001). Significant difference also exists between age groups of the women in their utilization of safe motherhood initiative services (P=0.006). The researchers concluded that being selective of the services to utilize among mothers may at the long run pose challenge in the achievement of reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality through safe motherhood initiative services.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.51505/ijmshr.2021.5602