ASCRIBING CAUSES OF MATERNAL MORTALITY IN HOMA BAY COUNTY KENYA

Abstract

Purpose: The study sought to ascribe cause of maternal mortality in Homa Bay County Kenya.
 Materials and Method: Data was collected by 40 trained community health workers who were residents of each sub county. Data for the retrospective study was collected using a standardized WHO verbal autopsy questionnaire. All maternal deaths which occurred between 2015 and 2019 in the county were identified. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 20. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multiple logistic regression were used in data analysis. Odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were calculated. P value of less than 0.05 was used to establish statistical significance.
 Results: The results show that 73.6% of the deaths occurred in a health facility with 20.7% occurring at home. Majority (70.7%) of the mothers visited health facilities during the last illness preceding death. 13.6% received treatment at home while 9.3% were seen by traditional healers. Expert review of the 140 reported deaths reported the leading causes of maternal deaths as obstetric haemorrhage (31.4%), HIV/AIDS (10.7% and abortion (10%). Although the results were not statistically significant, a higher proportion of community deaths attributed to obstetric hemorrhage (31.8%) and abortion-related causes (35.7%). A higher proportion of housewives in Homa Bay died at home, though all the socio-demographic and health-related variables analyzed were not significantly correlated with community deaths.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The need for improving the quality of care offered in different health care facilities, the department should also create an enabling environment and ensure a fully functional referral pathway between health facilities in the county. There is therefore need of increasing age of marriage through the practice of family planning methods and avoidance of home treatment and traditional healers. Further research can be done on causes of maternal deaths with a larger sample size.