Major Predisposing Factors to Utilization of Traditional Birth Attendants by Expectant Mothers in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

Texila International Journal of Public Health Volume 6, Issue 3, Sep 2018 Major Predisposing Factors to Utilization of Traditional Birth Attendants by Expectant Mothers in Mombasa County, Kenya Article by Johnson S. Manyiwa1, Oso W. Yuko 2, Bob O. Opiyo3 1Public Health Department-Mombasa County Kenya 2Amoud University 3Technical University of Mombasa E-mail: johnstoneshume@gmail.com Abstract The role of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in improving maternal health has been heavily debated, especially in the focus on Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5. The use of TBAs is still high in Kenya; TBAs attend to 28% of all births, relatives attend to 21% of births, and 7% give birth without any assistance. Up to 90% of these maternal and infant deaths are caused by obstetric complications that are preventable. Understanding the factors that contributes to high utilization of TBAs among Kenyan in spite of the free maternity being offered is very important. Hence, this study aimed at determining and ascertaining the critical predisposing factors to utilization of TBAs by expectant mothers in Mombasa County, Kenya. The study adopted a survey research design and was conducted among expectant mothers using semi-structured questionnaire and interview guide. Data was collected from June to September, 2017. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with utilization of TBAs by expectant mothers. Data was analysed using R (version 3.4.3). The study recruited 370 (96.4%) out of the expected 384 respondents. Various factors such as TBAs live among the community, poverty, culture, facilities being far, fear of harassment by nurses, number of children delivered. To improve the utilization of Skilled Birth Attendants (SBA) services, our finding suggests implementation of strategies like need to improve infrastructure and adequate maternal health services, also improving the staffing and motivation levels for health personnel.