Perinatal Outcomes of Newborns by Women Presenting with Maternal Complications in Pregnancy at a County Referral Hospital in Lower Eastern Kenya

BACKGROUND Maternal complications during pregnancy and labor have been the leading cause of maternal and neonatal death globally. The aim of the study was to observe and compare the differences in the perinatal outcomes of newborns born to women with maternal complications to those born to women without complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a prospective hospital-based paired cohort study. A total of 510 pregnant women were followed up and their newborns' outcomes recorded. 102 had complications and 408 did not have complications. RESULTS Thirteen percent (n=17) of women with complications and 9% (n=34) of women without complications were aged between 13 to 19 years. Forty five percent n=45 of the respondents were followed for maternal care related to fetus and amniotic cavity and possible delivery-related complications. CONCLUSION Teenagers and women aged above 34 years in pregnancy were at a higher risk of presenting with maternal complications. Women referred from hard to reach constituencies of the county were more likely to present with complications in pregnancy. Maternal care related to amniotic fluid cavity complications was the leading maternal complications in pregnancy followed by edema with proteinuria complications. RECOMMENDATIONS Governments and non-governmental organizations should put more emphasis on youth friendly services to reduce maternal complications associated with teenage pregnancy. There should also be more investment on infrastructure to make referral systems easy and avoid the second delay among women with maternal complications. African Journal of Health Sciences Volume 34, Issue No.4, July- August 2021 438 Moreover, women presenting with maternal complications in pregnancy at all levels of care should be closely followed up to avert cases of intra-uterine fetal deaths before and during labor.

Modern health-seeking behaviour and associated factors among mothers having under 5-years old children in Shire town, Tigray, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study 2018

Background: The practice of appropriate health care-seeking is important to reduce severe and life-threatening childhood illnesses. In Shire town, little is known about the mother's health care-seeking behaviour on childhood illness.Aim: To assess modern health-seeking behaviour and associated factors of mothers having under 5-years old children in Shire town. Setting: The study setting was Shire town, northwest Tigray, Ethiopia.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to interview 504 mother-child pairs by systematic random sampling technique. Data were collected through interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaires. Data were coded, entered, cleaned and edited using EPIDATA version 3.1 and export to Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 22.0 for analysis. To identify the significant variables, binary logistic regression was employed. Variables with p-value < 0.05 at 95% CI (confidence interval) in multivariate logistic regression were considered statistically significant.Results: In this study, around 76.2% (72.1, 80) of mothers sought modern health care. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis at a p-value of < 0.05, caregivers with age of ≥ 28 years (AOR [adjusted odds ratios]: 1.65; 95% CI [1.02, 2.68]), educational level of secondary school and above (AOR: 0.44; 95% CI [0.23, 0.86]), child feeding per day < 8 times (AOR: 2.77; 95% CI [1.75, 4.38]) and perceived severity of illness (AOR: 2; 95% CI [1.07, 3.82]) were statistically associated with modern health care-seeking behaviour. Conclusion: Strengthen healthcare services is recommended at the community level through information, education and communication/behavioural change strategies to improve the mother's health care-seeking behaviour

Descriptive epidemiology of anaemia among pregnant women initiating antenatal care in rural Northern Ghana

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is associated with adverse obstetric outcomes. When detected early in pregnancy, it can be treated; however, information on its prevalence and associated factors is limited in rural Ghana. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and maternal factors associated with anaemia in pregnancy at first antenatal care (ANC) visits. Setting: The study was conducted in the Navrongo War Memorial Hospital, a secondary referral facility in the Kassena-Nankana district in rural northern Ghana. Methods: A retrospective analysis of antenatal clinic records of pregnant women collected from January to December 2014. All pregnant women initiating antenatal clinic, who had initial haemoglobin (Hb) levels measured, were included in the study. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to determine factors associated with anaemia at the initiation of ANC. Results: We analysed data from 506 women with median Hb of 11.1 g/dL (IQR 7.31­13.8). The median gestational age at booking was 14 weeks (5­36 weeks). The prevalence of anaemia was 42.7%, with 95% confidence interval (CI) [38.4­47.1], and was high among teenage mothers (52% [34.9­67.8]), mothers who booked in the third trimester (55% [33.6­74.7]) and grand multiparous women (58% [30.7­81.6]). Factors associated with anaemia included grand multiparity (odds ratio [OR] = 1.94 with 95% CI [1.58­2.46]), booking during the third trimester (OR = 2.06 [1.78­2.21]) and mother who were underweight compared to those with normal weight (OR = 3.17 [1.19­8.32]). Conclusion: Burden of anaemia in pregnancy is still high in rural northern Ghana. We advocate further strengthening of the primary health care system to improve early access to ANC delivery

Competence of health care providers on care of newborns at birth in a level-1 health facility in Yaoundé, Cameroon

This is an observational study which was carried out at a level one health facility in Yaoundé from June to July 2009. The aim was to evaluate the competence of health care providers towards newborns' care at birth Methods Ten health care providers took care of three hundred and thirty-five pregnant women who were enrolled for the study after informed verbal consent in the delivery room. Results Out of 340 offspring delivered and taken care of, 179 (52.6%) were male and 161 (47.4%) were female. Only two out of ten health workers had a WHO Essential Newborn Care (ENC) training. None of them had received any refresher course for the past two years. The mean gestational age of women was 39.5±3.5 weeks. Resuscitation was carried out on 21 (6.2%) of the newborns including 7 (33.3%) who had birth asphyxia. Health care providers scored 100% in performing the following tasks: warming up the baby, applying eye drops, injecting vitamin K, identifying the neonate, searching for any apparent life threatening congenital malformations, preventing for infection after procedures and initiating breastfeeding. The score was 24% at neonatal resuscitation tasks. Low level of education was associated with poor competence on applying ENC tasks (p<0.001). Lack of WHO ENC training was associated with poor competence on ENC tasks (p<0.001) and poor skills on resuscitation (p=0.03). Conclusion There is a need to reinforce the capacity of health care providers by training in WHO ENC course with emphasis on providing skills on resuscitation in order to reduce the burden of neonatal intrapartum-related deaths