“Why We Deliver Elsewhere”: Women’s Preferred Places of Delivery and Their Effects

Abstract

Despite the crucial role place of delivery plays in maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity of women in Ghana, there continue to exit a gap between women who also utilize antenatal care service but fail to deliver at the hospital (elsewhere). This study was conducted in Assin Fosu in the Assin North district to examine why women prefer to deliver elsewhere (not the hospital. The objectives the study sought to investigate were: where women prefer to deliver; the factors that influence preferred places of delivery; the significant others that influences the decision of place of delivery; the effect of the places of delivery on the mother‘s health; and the beliefs and attitude about pregnancy. A qualitative approach was adopted to gather data through an in-depth interview with 45 respondents comprising 31 women, 4 TBAs, 2 nurses, 1 midwife, 6 men and 1 ―Awoyo‖ priestess. The results revealed that the use of TBAs and home delivery were preferred by some women despite the availability of hospitals and polyclinics in the community. Attitude of public health workers, emergency births, and financial constraints were the three major factors that prevented women from accessing and using institutional deliveries. While many women solely take the decision on the place of delivery, a number of them believed that institutional delivery was only aimed at women who experienced obstetric complications and also, the attendance of antenatal care was purposely to check for complications. Traditional beliefs about pregnancy and birth affected preparations made for delivery both positively and negatively. The study therefore recommends a comprehensive strategy to train and equip traditional birth attendants since many women still use their services, and public health workers should be sensitized about their negative attitudes and how it affects patients.