Abstract:
Background: Studies reported that community mobilization with high levels of community engagement can increase institutional births and significantly reduce maternal and early neonatal mortality. Recently, the government of Ethiopia, (GoE) has introduced a broad-based community mobilization platform to further strengthen the Health extension program (HEP) called the Health Development Army (HDA). One of their focus areas is maternal, child and newborn health to enhance government’s effort to improve facility delivery rate. However, as the HDA structure is new, little was explored about the effect of home visits by them on place of delivery.
Objective: To assess the effect of home visits by volunteer community health workers on place of delivery in recently completed pregnancy
Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of data collected for a larger community based neonatal mortality study in Sidama Zone, SNNPR. Logistic regression analysis was done to determine statistically significant associations between home visits during pregnancy and place of delivery.
Results: Women who did receive pregnancy home visit from VCHWs were 1.6 times more likely to give birth at health facility. The odds ratio adjusted for age, women’s education, distance from health facility and wealth status of the family was 1.6 (95%CI; 1.06, 2.34).p<0.05.
Conclusion: Home visit during pregnancy by volunteer health workers is likely to stimulate institutional delivery.
......................................... Thesis available at ACIPH