Abstract
BackgroundHealth centres and hospitals play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity by offering respectively Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC). The readiness of hospitals to provide CEmONC depends on the availability of qualified human resources, infrastructure like surgical theatres, and supplies like drugs and blood for transfusion. We assessed the readiness of district and regional hospitals in Burkina Faso to provide two key CEmONC functions, namely caesarean section and blood transfusion. As countries conduct EmONC needs assessments it is critical to provide national and subnational data, e.g. on the distribution of EmONC facilities as well as on facilities lacking the selected signal functions, to support the planning process for upgrading facilities so that they are ready to provide CEmONC.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study we assessed the availability of relevant health workers, obstetric guidelines, caesarean section and blood transfusion services and experience with quality assurance approaches across all forty-three (43) district and nine (9) regional hospitals.ResultsThe indicator corresponding to one comprehensive emergency care unit for 500,000 inhabitants was not achieved in Burkina Faso. Physicians with surgical skills, surgical assistants and anaesthesiologist assistants are sufficiently available in only 51.2%, 88.3% and 72.0% of district hospitals, respectively. Two thirds of regional and 20.9% of district hospitals had blood banks. Most district hospitals as opposed to only one third of regional hospitals had experience in maternal death reviews.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that only 27.8% of hospitals in Burkina Faso at the time of the study could continuously offer caesarean sections and blood transfusion services. Four years later, progress has likely been made but many challenges remain to be overcome. Information provided in this study can serve as a baseline for monitoring progress in district and regional hospitals.
Highlights
Health centres and hospitals play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity by providing respectively Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) [5,6,7]
In this article we report on the readiness of district and regional hospitals of Burkina Faso to provide two key functions of CEmONC in 2007
In Burkina Faso, the health system consists of various levels, each of which is designed to provide a range of services: the peripheral level, the lower intermediate level, the upper intermediate level and the central level
Summary
Health centres and hospitals play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity by offering respectively Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC). Health centres and hospitals play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity by providing respectively Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) [5,6,7]. In order to reduce maternal mortality, the government of Burkina Faso has launched several strategies since 1990 to improve access to skilled attendance and EmONC; such strategies include the development of infrastructure (health centres, hospitals with surgical theatres), the recruitment and training of health workers, the reduction of user fees for maternity care through government subsidies and the introduction of generic drugs. Surgeons and GP-BES, at least two surgical assistants (nurses with two years training in surgery) and two anaesthesiologist assistants (nurses with two years training in anaesthesia) should be present in each district hospital as well
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