| dc.description.abstract | The main objective of this research was to find
determinants and levels of maternal mortality as compared
with non-maternal female mortality in the reproductive age
set and to establish its significance. The study analyzed
tenvariables: socio-cultural, socio-economic, demographic,
environmental, medical factors and abortion and their
operation variable as related to maternal mortality.
The research was carried out in hospitals in Nakuru
Municipality though the data is not representative of any
administrative area. The data collected will be
institutionally based. Involved were, one Government
assisted hospital (Nakuru General Hospital-NGH) and two
private hospitals (Menengai Nursing and Maternity HomeMN&MH
and Nakuru War Memorial Hospital-NWMH).
Having considered the surveys studies done worldwide,
it was found to be of importance to study maternal
mortality in an urban set-up which isof its kind inKenya.
The period of study that was analyzed was 5years i.e
1981-1985. The sample size was expected to be 150 for
maternal deaths and about 1000 for non-maternal deaths.
The data used was collected from the above mentioned
institutions. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared method,
cross-tabulations and regression techniques were used for
analysis.
The analysis showed varied results. For instance, age
pattern showed different sequences depending on the
variables. Each variable was summarised into two graphs
i.e for maternal related cases and non-maternal related case. The number of sequences depended on the number of
categories for each variable.
All variables were analyzed using the chi-square.
Most of the null hypothesis have been rejected except for
age at first birth, marital status and ante-natal clinic
attendance.
As for the regression analysis, six equations were
analyzed. While equation 1 and 2 did not offer any valid
result.s,equation 3 a-nd5 were shown to be the best. In
the best equation i.e equation 3, only age residence and
ethnicity were analyzed and found to be significantly
related to maternal mortality. In this equation, the
constant of standard error was low and the constant of beta
was greater than 0.5. The findings suggest that maternal
mortality is an area that needs much attention and thorough suervey | |
