| dc.description.abstract | Proper timing of postnatal care services is a crucial step towards reduction of maternal mortality. The study sorts to identify socioeconomic, cultural and demographic factors that influence the timing of postnatal care services in Kenya. Secondary data from KDHS 2003 was used where a total of 8195 women aged 15-49 years were sampled. This study only focuses on 2206 women who had non institutional live births. The survey collected data on women who utilized postnatal care after delivery.
Out of 2206 women who had non institutional delivery only 411 women sought postnatal care services. The methods of data analysis used were frequencies to show the characteristics of the study population and cross tabulation to show the differentials and logistic regression used to asses the effects of the variables on the timing of uptake of postnatal care services.
Key results from the logistic regression analysis shows that maternal education was a key factor determining the uptake of postnatal professional care among the women who delivered outside the health facilities in Kenya. Women with primary education were more likely to utilize the uptake of postnatal care services than women with no education within 2 days after delivery while those with at least secondary education were more likely to seek postnatal care services than women with no education.
In the case of bivariate analysis significant regional variation in the timing of uptake of postnatal professional care services are evident. Women in Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western and North Eastern province were significantly less likely to seek postnatal professional health care services within 2 days after delivery. There is no significant difference in the behavior of women in Nairobi and those in Central, Coast and Eastern with respect to the timing of the uptake of postnatal professional care.
The study concluded that there are significant differentials in the timing of uptake services within 2 days after delivery outside health facilities. The rest of the variables included in the logistic model do not show any statistical significance. of professional postnatal care according to educational attainment and region of residence in Kenya.
The study recommends that further research be done to find out the low uptake of postnatal professional care services within 2 days after delivery in Kenya, and to find out why primary educated women are more likely than secondary educated women to seek health care after delivery. This study recommends the government to intensify campaigns to increase the early uptake of postnatal care services among women who deliver outside health institutions in Kenya. These campaigns should be more intense in provinces such as
Western, Rift Valley and North Eastern where early uptake of postnatal professional services is relatively low. | en_US |
