MATERNAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES UTILIZATION AND BREASTFEEDING PRACTICES: COMPARISON AMONG TEENAGE AND NON TEENAGE MOTHERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy is a common public health problem affecting nearly every society- developed and developing alike. There is a growing awareness that early child bearing has multiple consequences in terms of maternal health. child health and over all well-being of society. Utilization of maternal health facilities by women of child bearing age has direct bearing on maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Little is known about the pregnancy and delivery outcomes among teenage mothers and their level of utilization of maternity services. This study compared the utilization of maternal healthcare services and breastfeeding practices among teenage and non teenage mothers. This study is a secondary data analysis of the 2007 National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS Plus) - a nationally representative household survey of males and females of reproductive age group. Comparison of maternal health care services utilization and breastfeeding practices between 240 teenage and 3364 non teenage mothers in Nigeria who had a baby during the five years preceding the survey was carried out. Differences in maternal care and breastfeeding variables were tested using the Chi-square test, Mann Whitney U test and logistic regression. Ninety five percent confidence intervals for odds ratios were reported from the logistic regression. The mean age of the teenage(TM) and non teenage mothers(TM) were 17.6 (SD=l.2) and 32 (SD=7.9) respectively. The prevalence of teenage childbearing in the study population was 6.7%. Higher proportions (80.4%) of TM were more of rural dwellers compared to 67.9% NTM (p<0.001), more 47.1% teenage mothers than 26.8% non teenage mothers were residents of North western geographical zone (p<0.001), about two-third of the TM and a little over half of the NTM are Muslims by religion (p<0.001). Majority, 97.7% of the NTM compared to 88.1% TM were currently married at the time of study (p<0.001). Non teenage mothers utilized maternal health care services better compared to the teenage mothers. The TM were less likely to receive ANC compared to the NTM (OR=0.89, 95%CI=0.66-1.20). The predictors of ANC utilization among TM were; location (OR=3.52, 95%CI= l.22-10.21) and education (OR=0.24, 95%CI=0.08-0.73) while for the NTM location, education and zones were the predictors. The teenage mothers were also less likely than the non teenage mothers to obtain PNC (OR=0.56, 95%CI=0.39-0.79). The only predictor of PNC among the TM was education but among NTM the predictors were zone, location, education and television viewing habit. There was no significant difference between the two groups concerning breastfeeding practices (OR=l.14, 95CI=0.59-2.21). None of the variables were predictors of breastfeeding practices among the TM but for the NTM, zone and location were the predicting factors. Conclusion: Though utilization of the available maternal health care services is generally low, teenage mothers have poorer levels of utilization of these services. Effective interventions targeting teenage mothers should focus on rural women, never married, of lower level of education and residence in northern zones of the country.