IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences

Abstract

Delivery is potentially a hazardous process as most maternal mortality
occurs during delivery. Utilization of maternal health services offered by
institutional or modern health facilities is known to be associated with
decrease in maternal, neonatal and infant mortality rates because health
facility delivery affords the woman the attendance of skilled or professional
health personnel at childbirth.

Yet many women in the developing countries including Nigeria still
deliver outside health facilities, particularly at home without professional
attendance, risking survival of both the mother and the baby. Nigeria is one of
the countries of the world that have the highest maternal, infant and child
mortality rates. It is also one of the
countries with low use of health facilities for delivery. In 1999, only 37.3%
of mothers in the country delivered in health facilities (NDHS, 1999), and in
2003 only 32.6% delivered in health facilities (NDHS 2003). Identifying the
factors affecting the use of modern health facilities for delivery is essential
for appropriate policies and programs that can help to increase health facility
utilization for delivery and thereby decrease maternal and infant mortality in
Nigeria. This study aimed to establish the prevalence (i.e., levels) of use of
modern health facilities (public and private), for delivery in Nigeria. It also
aimed at identifying the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of use of
health facility delivery in the country. The study was a cross sectional analyses
of the data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) conducted in
2008. The NDHS covers a nationally representative sample of more than 36,000
households based on 2006 Population and Housing Census of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, 2006. The NDHS interviewed 33,385 women aged 15 to 49 years, and
15,486 men aged 15 to 59 years. This study analysed responses from the 17,635
women aged 15-49, who had at least one live birth in the five years preceding
the survey. The univariate, bivariate and multivariate analytical techniques
were adopted. To estimate the effects of socioeconomic and demographic factors
on delivery in health facilities, binary logistic regression analysis was
adopted as the multivariate technique. Results show that only 36.7% of deliveries
took place in health facilities. Using binary logistic regression analysis, the
following variables were significant predictors of use of health facilities for
delivery: mother’s age, children ever born, education, region of residence,
religion and wealth status. In order to significantly increase the level of use
of health facilities for delivery by Nigerian women, and thereby reduce
maternal and infant mortality, policies and programs should be well targeted to
those identified groups with low utilization of health facilities