The location of the birth and the use of a birth attendant are important choices for women and their families since they have a significant impact on how pregnancies and deliveries turn out. Lack of access to high-quality care throughout pregnancy and, in particular, during delivery, is a major contributor to the stark disparity in maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality between the developing and industrialized nations. (Gayawan,2012)
Annual stillbirth rates are 3.3 million, and maternal deaths have been progressively increasing as well. Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the more than 500,000 women who die from complications during pregnancy are in impoverished countries, predominantly in Asia and Africa. (WHO 2005). The inference is that pregnancy and childbirth cause at least one woman’s death each minute in these regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a one in 22 probability that a mother will pass away during her lifetime. North Africa is home to one in 210 people, Oceania to one in 62, Asia to one in 120, and Latin America and the Caribbean to one in 290. (WHO, 2005).
The World Health Organization (WHO) (2005) asserts that both women and their newborn newborns may be saved by excellent professional care during and after childbirth. The historical achievement in reducing maternal death and newborn mortalities lends weight to this. The contrary is also true; a rapid rise in adverse outcomes may occur if access to expert therapy becomes less readily available. Obstetric issues are frequently the leading cause of death for women in reproductive age in poor countries, according to Yanagisawa, Oum, and Wakai (2006). Each year, more than 200 million women around the world become pregnant. It is predicted that 40% of these women will experience pregnancy-related health problems, with 15% experiencing serious or prolonged complications and 1.7% experiencing fatal ones. Women in developing countries have a 250-fold increased lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications. 70% of these fatalities are attributed to five specific obstetric complications: postpartum hemorrhage, puerperal pre- and eclampsia, eclampsia, obstructed labor, and abortion. 88 to 98% of these fatalities are regarded to be preventable. AbouZahr, 2003; Yanagisawa et al. (2006) contend that prevention and control of these issues are crucial to improving maternal health. Prenatal care, or ANC, is thought to be provided to 97% of expectant mothers in affluent countries, and 99% of deliveries are thought to be performed by trained medical personnel. In developing countries, 53% of women get skilled obstetric care, while 65% of women use ANC (Uzochukwu, Onyeukwu and Okpala 2004.) Hiring capable birth attendants to improve the care of pregnancy and its problems is an effective method to reduce maternal mortality.
Receiving ANC alone is not enough, according to Iyaniwure and Yusuf (2009). This is because the majority of complications that cause maternal death occur during or soon after birth. Pregnant women must have skilled obstetric care throughout delivery because pregnancy-related complications are a leading cause of death for women of reproductive age in developing nations. Expert obstetric care or attendance is the process through which a pregnant woman and her unborn child are provided proper care during pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum, and the immediate postpartum period, regardless of whether the delivery takes place at home or in a hospital. For this process to be successful, the attendant must have the necessary skills and be supported by an enabling environment at many levels of the healthcare system. An essential first step in improving care for women during labor and delivery is to address who is currently present at the 60 million non-facility births around the world and what impact they have on birth outcomes. (2009) Darmstadt and other
Only people with midwifery training—such as doctors, nurses, and midwives—have the education and practical expertise required to handle both routine births and obstetric problems. They must be able to identify problems as they emerge, perform the appropriate interventions, start a treatment plan, and keep track of the mother and child being referred for interventions that are either outside the scope of their training or impossible to carry out in the circumstances.
A midwife provided professional support to 34% of women who gave birth a year prior to the research, while 62% of them received ANC, according to the National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey carried out in Nigeria in 2003. Professional midwives attend 20% of deliveries in the state of Abia, whereas TBAs attend 80% of births (Health statistics, 2012) In underdeveloped countries, conditions are insufficient to encourage women in rural and isolated areas to give birth at home. While some home deliveries proceed without a hitch, others end in difficulties or even fatalities. The latter commonly occurs when the woman’s family is either unable to recognize the signs of problems or is not ready to refer her to a medical facility.
The continually high rate of maternal mortality is still worrisome with only six months till 2015, the year in which a global reduction in maternal death is to be achieved. The United Nations and World Bank estimate that 144 women die there every day from pregnancy-related problems, making Nigeria one of the deadliest places in the world for women to give birth (Okeibunor, Onyeneho and Okonofua, 2010). The mother and child health condition in Nigeria is one of the worst in all of Africa, and during the past 10 years, it hasn’t really improved while increasing worse in some areas of the country. For every 100,000 live births, there are 800 to 1,500 maternal fatalities. Unfortunately, Nigeria ranks second to India in terms of the absolute number of maternal deaths and is responsible for more than 10% of all maternal and under-five deaths worldwide, despite having access to lots of resources (NHS 2003 in Ladipo 2009). Selecting the birth location and the delivery attendants is important for both women and their families because this is a particularly important phase and one in which nearly all of the challenges that result in maternal morbidity and mortality occur. Every pregnant woman needs medical support when giving birth in order to ensure optimal safety; women do not have to die during childbirth. This can greatly reduce maternal morbidity and death rates and avoid, control, or decrease many potentially fatal problems during labor. Determining the birthplace choices of women in the Amassoma community is the aim of this inquiry.
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