Predicting maternal healthcare seeking behaviour in Afghanistan: exploring sociodemographic factors and women's knowledge of severity of illness

BACKGROUND

Little is known whether women's knowledge of perceived severity of illness and sociodemographic characteristics of women influence healthcare seeking behavior for maternal health services in Afghanistan. The aim of this study was to address this knowledge gap.

METHODS

Data were used from the Afghanistan Health Survey 2018. Women's knowledge in terms of danger signs or symptoms during pregnancy was assessed. The signs or symptoms were bleeding, swelling of the body, headache, fever, or any other danger sign or symptom (e.g., high blood pressure). A categorical variable of knowledge score was created. The outcome variables were defined as ≥ 4 ANC vs. 0-3 ANC; ≥ 4 PNC vs. 0-3 PNC visits; institutional vs. non-institutional deliveries. A multivariable generalized linear model (GLM) was used.

RESULTS

Data were used from 9,190 ever-married women, aged 13-49 years, who gave birth in the past two years. It was found that 56%, 22% and 2% of women sought healthcare for institutional delivery, ≥ 4 ANC, ≥ 4 PNC visits, respectively, and that women's knowledge is a strong predictor of healthcare seeking [odds ratio (OR)1.77(1.54-2.05), 2.28(1.99-2.61), and 2.78 (2.34-3.32) on knowledge of 1, 2, and 3-5 signs or symptoms, respectively, in women with ≥ 4 ANC visits when compared with women who knew none of the signs or symptoms. In women with ≥ 4 PNC visits, it was 1.80(1.12-2.90), 2.22(1.42-3.48), and 3.33(2.00-5.54), respectively. In women with institutional deliveries, it was 1.49(1.32-1.68), 2.02(1.78-2.28), and 2.34(1.95-2.79), respectively. Other strong predictors were women's education level, multiparity, residential areas (urban vs. rural), socioeconomic status, access to mass media (radio, TV, the internet), access of women to health workers for birth, and decision-making for women where to deliver. However, age of women was not a strong predictor.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that pregnant women's healthcare seeking behaviour is influenced by women's knowledge of danger signs and symptoms during pregnancy, women's education, socioeconomic status, access to media, husband's, in-laws' and relatives' decisions, residential area, multiparity, and access to health workers. The findings have implications for promoting safe motherhood and childbirth practices through improving women's knowledge, education, and social status.

Benefit-risk analysis of maintaining essential Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (RMNCH) services against risk of COVID-19 infection

With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the world, its disruptive effect on the provision and utilization of non- COVID related health services have become well-documented. As countries developed mitigation strategies to help continue the delivery of essential health services through the pandemic, they needed to carefully weigh the benefits and risks of pursuing these strategies. In an attempt to assist countries in their mitigation efforts, a Benefit-Risk model was designed to provide guidance on how to compare the health benefits of sustained essential reproductive, maternal, newborn and child (RMNCH) services against the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections incurred by the countries' populations when accessing these services. This article describes how two existing models were combined to create this model, the field-testing process carried out from November 2020 through March 2021 in six countries and the findings. The overall Benefit-Risk Ratio in the 6 countries analyzed was found to be between 13.7 and 79.2, which means that for every 13.7 to 79.2 lives gained due to increased RMNCH service coverage, there was one loss of a life related to COVID-19. In all cases and for all services, the benefit of maintaining essential health services far exceeded the risks associated with additional COVID-19 infections and deaths. This modelling process illustrated how essential health services can continue to operate during a pandemic and how mitigation measures can reduce COVID-19 infections and restore or increase coverage of essential health services. Overall, this Benefit-Risk analysis underscored the importance and value of maintaining coverage of essential health services even during public health emergencies, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

National and subnational estimates of coverage and travel time to emergency obstetric care in Afghanistan: Modeling of spatial accessibility

In Afghanistan, the risk of maternal death is among the highest in the world, with wide variation across the country. One explanation may be wide geographic disparities in access and use of maternal health care services. This study describes the spatial distribution of public facilities providing maternal health care in Afghanistan, specifically emergency obstetric care (EmOC), and the differences in travel time estimates using different transportation modes from 2010 to 2015 at the national and subnational levels. We conducted mapping and spatial analyses to measure the proportion of pregnant women able to access any EmOC health facility within 2 h by foot, animal, motor vehicle and a combination of transport modes. In 2015, adequate coverage of active public health facilities within 2 h of travel time was 36.6% by foot and 71.2% by a combination of transport modes. We found an 8.3% and 63.2% increase in access to EmOC facilities within 2 h of travel time by a combination of transport modes and by foot only, respectively, by 2015. Access to a combination of transportation options such as motor vehicles and animals may benefit pregnant women in reaching health facilities efficiently. Afghanistan made impressive gains in maternal healthcare access; despite these improvements, large disparities remain in geographic access by province and overall access to facilities is still poor.

Quality of care in prevention, detection and management of postpartum hemorrhage in hospitals in Afghanistan: an observational assessment

BACKGROUND

Hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide and accounts for 56% of maternal deaths in Afghanistan. Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is commonly caused by uterine atony, genital tract trauma, retained placenta, and coagulation disorders. The purpose of this study is to examine the quality of prevention, detection and management of PPH in both public and private hospitals in Afghanistan in 2016, and compare the quality of care in district hospitals with care in provincial, regional, and specialty hospitals.

METHODS

This study uses a subset of data from the 2016 Afghanistan National Maternal and Newborn Health Quality of Care Assessment. It covers a census of all accessible public hospitals, including 40 district hospitals, 27 provincial hospitals, five regional hospitals, and five specialty hospitals, as well as 10 purposively selected private hospitals.

RESULTS

All public and private hospitals reported 24 h/7 days a week service provision. Oxytocin was available in 90.0% of district hospitals, 89.2% of provincial, regional and specialty hospitals and all 10 private hospitals; misoprostol was available in 52.5% of district hospitals, 56.8% of provincial, regional and specialty hospitals and in all 10 private hospitals. For prevention of PPH, 73.3% women in district hospitals, 71.2% women at provincial, regional and specialty hospitals and 72.7% women at private hospital received uterotonics. Placenta and membranes were checked for completeness in almost half of women in all hospitals. Manual removal of placenta was performed in 97.8% women with retained placenta. Monitoring blood loss during the immediate postpartum period was performed in 48.4% of women in district hospitals, 36.9% of women in provincial, regional and specialty hospitals, and 43.3% in private hospitals. The most commonly observed cause of PPH was retained placenta followed by genital tract trauma and uterine atony.

CONCLUSION

Gaps in performance of skilled birth attendants are substantial across public and private hospitals. Improving and retaining skills of health workers through on-site, continuous capacity development approaches and encouraging a culture of audit, learning and quality improvement may address clinical gaps and improve quality of PPH prevention, detection and management.

Quality of essential newborn care and neonatal resuscitation at health facilities in Afghanistan: a cross-sectional assessment

OBJECTIVE

To assess readiness and quality of essential newborn care and neonatal resuscitation practices in public health facilities in Afghanistan.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional assessment.

SETTING

226 public health facilities in Afghanistan, including 77 public health facilities with at least five births per day (high-volume facilities) and 149 of 1736 public health facilities with fewer than five births per day (low-volume facilities).

PARTICIPANTS

Managers of 226 public health facilities, 734 skilled birth attendants (SBAs) working at these facilities, and 643 women and their newborns observed during childbirth at 77 high-volume health facilities.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Availability of knowledgeable SBAs, availability of supplies and compliance with global guidelines for essential newborn care and neonatal resuscitation practices.

RESULTS

At high-volume facilities, 569/636 (87.9%) of babies were dried immediately after birth, 313/636 (49.2%) were placed in skin-to-skin contact with their mother and 581/636 (89.7%) had their umbilical cord cut with a sterile blade or scissors. A total of 87 newborn resuscitation attempts were observed. Twenty-four of the 87 (27.5%) began to breath or cry after simply clearing the airway or on stimulation. In the remaining 63 (72.5%) cases, a healthcare worker began resuscitation with a bag and mask; however, only 54 (62%) used a correct size of mask and three babies died as their resuscitation with bag and mask was unsuccessful.

CONCLUSIONS

The study indicates room for improvement of the quality of neonatal resuscitation practices at public health facilities in Afghanistan, requiring only strengthening of the current best practices in newborn care. Certain basic and effective aspects of essential newborn care that can be improved on with little additional resources were also missing, such as skin-to-skin contact of the babies with their mother. Improvement of compliance with the standard newborn care practices must be ensured to reduce preventable newborn mortality and morbidity in Afghanistan.