The Role of Organized Public Forums in Improving Uptake of Skilled Birth Attendants among Women of Reproductive Age in Kilifi County, Kenya

Abstract

The skilled and competent attendant is vital in curbing maternal and infant mortality. Promoting the utilization of maternal health services supervised by skilled health professionals greatly aids in bridging the gap in accessing maternal health services such as immunization and postnatal care services. This lack of skilled attendance is one of the major factors responsible for the rising maternal and infant mortality. Thus, there’s still needed to encourage these women to seek out the services of skilled health professionals during childbirth. This study is aimed at investigating the use of an organized public forums approach in influencing the uptake of skilled birth attendants (SBAs) among women of reproductive age in the Kanamai Area, Kilifi County. The study was conducted at Kanamai Area, Kilifi County. A cross-sectional survey was carried out using semi-structured questionnaires as tools of data collection. Simple random sampling was used to recruit the study participants. All analyses were done using R for Windows (version 4.0.3). Both descriptive and inferential analyses were done. Descriptive statistics were used to generate frequency and percentages, while chi-square was used to draw inferences. Association was considered significant if 𝑃 < 0.05. Some of the notable significant factors gathered through our public forum engagement influencing support for delivery assisted by skilled birth attendants (SBAs) were education level, occupation, and parity. There’s a need for the concerned agencies to embrace the use of public forums and other relevant approaches so as to sought out and promote the rate of health services utilization.