Challenges in the provision of maternal health services in public health facilities in Embu West District, Kenya

Abstract

The Government of Kenya through the Ministries of Public Health and Sanitation and Medical Services is committed to improving Maternal Health care services in the country. This is in line with the vision 2030 and Millennium Development Goal number five. For the Ministries to achieve the goals, it is the responsibility of every health facility to strategize on how to implement the National Health Strategic Plan 11 and reverse the negative trends. The study sought the challenges in the provision of maternal Health care services in Public Health facilities in Embu West District in Kenya.

The District was chosen because of the large proportion of mothers who deliver at home despite antenatal clinic attendance and low maternal utilization of the facilities. The four main objectives of the study were to assess the family status that influence provision of maternal health services, to establish how preparation of clients in family planning, pregnancy, and delivery influence provision of maternal health services, to ascertain how the capacity of skilled attendant influences provision of maternal health services and to examine how equipment and delivery environment influence provision of maternal health services. A descriptive cross sectional design was used in the study.

The target population of the study included clients, health workers, male partners and administrators. Random sampling method was used to get the facilities and respondents while purposive sampling was used to get the health workers and administrators. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect the data. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to analyze the data and inferential and descriptive statistics was used.

The results obtained in the study show that: education, financial status of the family, preparation in family planning, pregnancy, labour and delivery, capacity of skilled attendants and equipment influence the provision of maternal health services in Embu West District. The results will benefit clients, health workers, managers, and policy makers to design interventions and policies for improving maternal health care and also to reduce risks of the patients.

The study concludes that family status influence provision of Maternal Health Services, Client preparation about family planning, pregnancy and delivery influence provision of maternal Health, the capacity of skilled attendants influences provision of maternal health and Equipments, delivery environment and alternative care influence provision of maternal health services in Public Health facilities in Embu West District.