Health providers´ knowledge on maternal and newborn care: implications on health systems strengthening in Vihiga County, Kenya

Namayi, I., Makokha, A., & Echoka, E. (2020). Health providers´ knowledge on maternal and newborn care: implications on health systems strengthening in Vihiga County, Kenya. The Pan African medical journal, 37, 73. https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2020.37.73.24597

Abstract/Overview

Pregnant women need access to skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care (EmOC) to avert maternal deaths. While poor EmOC services may explain the high maternal mortality, inadequate knowledge of providers is also part of the problem. This forms the basis of this paper, in a setting where 50.2% of women deliver in a health facility but maternal mortality remains high at 531/100,000 live births, compared to the national average of 362/100,000 in Kenya.

Subject/Keywords

Maternal; newborn; health; health provider; intrapartum; knowledge

Further Details

Results: A total of 55 nurses were interviewed. Majority (71%) of the respondents were diploma nurses. The overall knowledge score for MNH among the providers was adequate with a score of (64%). Generally, the midwives and higher diploma nurses consistently scored higher than diploma nurses in all the topic areas of MNH. In the mixed linear regression, determinants of knowledge score were seen in provider-level variables.

Conclusion: Overall, the providers scores were higher on intrapartum and newborn care compared to scores on care for complications. We conclude that in-service training on EmOC to providers is critical to reduction of maternal mortality.

Publisher

The Pan African medical journal

Series

Issue 37;No. 73

Permalink

https://repository.amref.ac.ke/handle/123456789/296

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