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Utilization Of Antenatal And Maturity Services By Mothers Seeking Child Welfare Services In Nigeria
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Nigeria has had a very poor record
regarding maternal and child health outcomes. Statistics depicting
maternal and child health status in Nigeria call for a public health
action (Adebayo, 2001). An estimated 53,000 women and 250,000 new born
die annually mostly as a result of preventable causes (National Primary
Health Care Development Agency, 2006). Over the years, several
initiative programmes have been introduced to reduce the rate of
mortality among mothers and children in Nigeria. Despite these efforts,
poor maternal and child health indices have continued to be one of the
most serious development challenges facing the country (NPHCDA, 2006).
In the year 2000, Nigeria and other members of the United Nations agreed
on a number of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to improve the
welfare of the people in their countries in the 21st century. Two of the
health related goals concern reducing death among children under 5
years old by two-third (MDG 4, that is, reduction from 230 to 77 per
100,000 live births) and reducing maternal deaths by three-quarter (MDG
5) by the year 2015, when compared with the 1990 figures – from
1000/100,000 live births to 250 (NPHCDA, 2006). One year to 2015,
Nigeria still records a rather appalling maternal, neonatal, and infant
mortality rates compared with developed countries. Although many of
these deaths are preventable, the coverage and quality of health care
services in Nigeria continue to fail women and children. Every single
day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under five year olds and 145 women of
child bearing age, which marked the country the second largest
contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world
(Okereke, et al, 2004). Underneath the statistics lies the pain of
human tragedy, for thousand of families who have lost their children.
Even more devastating is the knowledge that essential interventions
reaching women and babies on time would have averted most of these
deaths. Although, analysis of recentt rends shows that the country is
making progress in cutting down infants and under-five mortality rates,
the pace still remains too slow to achieve the millennium development
goals of reducing child mortality by a third by 2015. Presently, less
than 20 percent of health facilities in Nigeria offer emergency
obstetric care and only 34 percent of deliveries are attended by skilled
birth attendants (Okereke, et al, 2005). The state of health of
Nigerians, and especially of our women, is to say the least, obnoxious
and scandalous. Health services in Nigeria have been unable to satisfy
the needs, desires, aspirations of the consumers who seek health
assistance, counselling and diagnosis. This holds that the consumers of
health care services in Nigeria are largely unsatisfied as a result of
the poor quality and quantity of health services and their providers as
well as financial constraints (Ladipo, 2009).
Despite the efforts in
raising MCH services, some women still do not avail themselves of the
opportunity even when provided free of charge. It is not uncommon to
hear that some women reject modern medical and health care services on
the ground that they are not in consonance with the system the people
are already used to. Therefore, this study is designed to assess the
provision and utilization of maternal and child health care services
among women of child bearing age in Benue State. The study attempted to
find answers to the following specific research questions.
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