Activities of Traditional Birth Attendants in Okpatu, Udi Local Government Area Enugu,Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the activities of Traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in Okpau community, Udi L.G.A of Enugu state. The respondents comprising of 10 TBAs that were resident within the 8 villages visited, constituted the study sample. Snowballing sampling technique was used. In-depth interview guide was the tool used for data collection and data was analyzed using thematically. The results reveal that TBAs generally provide some antenatal services though majority do not understand the meaning of the results, majority of TBAs use and understand signs of labour, the TBAs do not consider post -partum care as important, the TBAs knowledge of detecting risk factors is poor and majority of the TBAs make use of herbs and/or prayers to manage their clients. In conclusion, it was noted that TBAs have been unsuccessful in handling obstetric complications, but have contributed to successful maternal, neonatal, and child health interventions. Therefore, it was recommended that more and well staffed health centres and hospitals should be cited in okpatu to increase accessibilyto care especially at night, there should be proper training of TBAs on all round care and management of patints.