Women Status and Access to Maternal Healthcare Services in Primary Healthcare Facilities of North Ukelle, Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State

Abstract

Introduction: Access to skilled maternal health services has been recognized as a panacea to poor maternal health outcome. However, poor access to skilled maternal health services prevail and this is worrisome because of the corresponding poor maternal health outcomes. This study examined women's status and access to maternal health services in primary healthcare facilities of North Ukelle. Methods: A cross sectional survey design was adopted for this study while a validated questionnaire with a reliability co-efficient of 0.67 was administered to obtained data. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 390 women who had been pregnant within twenty four (24) months prior to the survey. Both descriptive and Chi square techniques were applied to analyze data using SPSS 21.0. Result: Findings from this study showed low access, as only 176(45.1%) accessed maternal care in the primary healthcare facilities. Decision for care was taken by husbands alone for 152(39%) respondents and the influence of low decision autonomy was conspicuous as husband's decision determined place of registration for maternal care in 254 (65.1%) respondents. Access to health facility based care increased with higher level of education. Interestingly, women involved in trading 72(18.5%) accessed care more than civil servants 43(11.0%). Chi square analysis showed no significant association between occupation and access. Conclusion: Based on these findings, free secondary education for the girl-child is suggested, as this will empower her to take healthcare decisions and negotiate care options. Flexible maternal care periods such as evenings and weekends should be adopted to accommodate working class women with tight time schedule.

Keywords

• women status
• decision autonomy
• access
• maternal health services