Perinatal care services for women of ethnic minority in the Tay Nguyen High Land

ABSTRACT

Background: In past decades, Viet Nam achieved many accomplishments in maternal and child health care. However, these successes vary for each area in the country. Tay Nguyen is a high land and has many economic, social and health care difficulties. Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, practice of seeking out pregnancy, delivery and newborn care services of the ethnic minority women in four provinces in Tay Nguyen and to analyze the various factors related to health care behavior. Subjects and method: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data. The study included 768 women living in 8 communes of 4 provinces in Tay Nguyen (Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, and Kon Tum). Results: 70% of pregnant women went to health facilities for antenatal care visits, but only 42% of them visited three or more times as recommended by the Ministry of Health. 19% of women thought that the antenatal care visits were unnecessary and 16% did not know about antenatal care. 64% of the deliveries occurred at home. Conclusion: Health education and communication in perinatal care need to be improved. It is important to bring health services to the communities to fill the gap in health care services for ethnic minority women.