| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to establish knowledge and utilization of stillbirth preventive measures among women of childbearing age in Mbala District. This is because stillbirth rates in the District were steadily increasing from 6.9% in the first quarter to 13% in the fourth quarter of 2010, see Table 1 and 2 (Trends of stillbirth in 2010 and before).
The study noted that various factors influence utilization of stillbirth preventive measures which are knowledge, service related, health behavioral factors, disease related, and social- cultural -economic factors. The hypothesis of the study was that there was a relationship between knowledge and utilization of stillbirth preventive measures; and that the lower the information, education and communication on utilization of preventive measures on stillbirth the lower the utilization of the preventive measures.
A non-interventional descriptive research design was used to establish knowledge and utilization of stillbirth preventive measures in Mbala District. A pilot study was conducted in one of the clinics on five respondents whose characteristics were the same as those of the main study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data by randomly selecting participants using a simple random sampling procedure. The sample size of fifty (50) respondents was selected from the target population of women in childbearing age in the District excluding school girls who have never been pregnant before and have never attended Ante natal care. The data was later analyzed manually on a data master sheet and by use of a calculator and SPSS version 17.0. Presentation of data was done by use of frequent tables, pie charts and cross tabulations to show the relationships between variables.
Results from the study revealed that 66% of the respondents exhibited low knowledge levels of stillbirth preventive measures but high levels of utilization of preventive measures. On the other hand, 34% had both high knowledge and utilization levels of stillbirth preventive measures. The
study also revealed that 54% of the respondents who attained primary level education had higher levels of utilization of preventive measures.
The study recommendations are that MOH should ensure that each district has a comprehensive emergency obstetric center with four units equipped with appropriate equipment to prevent stillbirths from a surgical interventional perspective; so that women are informed of the existence of these facilities and how useful they are in preventing still births. Besides, it should train enough skilled health professionals and deploy them in rural areas where most of these services are needed. These health workers should make use of the antenatal clinics as a platform for intensified information, education and communication on stillbirth preventive measures at any contact with the women in childbearing age. These skilled health professionals should be trained in newborn resuscitation program as a measure to prevent stillbirths. | en_US |
