Open AccessHome birth and hospital birth trends in Bo, Sierra Leone
Author(s) -
JACOBSEN KATHRYN H.,
ABDIRAHMAN HAFSA A.,
ANSUMANA RASHID,
BOCKARIE ALFRED S.,
BANGURA UMARU,
JIMMY DAVID HENRY,
MALANOSKI ANTHONY P.,
SUNDUFU ABU JAMES,
STENGER DAVID A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0412.2012.01384.x
Subject(s) - sierra leone , medicine , health care , pregnancy , demography , cluster (spacecraft) , census , family medicine , cluster sampling , pediatrics , environmental health , socioeconomics , population , economic growth , sociology , biology , computer science , economics , genetics , programming language
As of April 2010, all maternity care at government healthcare facilities in Sierra Leone is provided at no cost to patients. In late 2010, we conducted a community health census of 18 sections of the city of Bo (selected via randomized cluster sampling from 68 total sections). Among the 3421 women with a history of pregnancy who participated in the study, older women most often reported having a history of both home and hospital deliveries, while younger women showed a preference for hospital births. The proportion of lastborn children delivered at a healthcare facility increased from 71.8% of offspring 10–14 years old to 81.1% of those one to nine years old and 87.3% of infants born after April 2010. These findings suggest that the new maternal healthcare initiative has accelerated an existing trend toward a preference for healthcare facility births, at least in some urban parts of Sierra Leone.