Socio - Economic Factors Associated with Occurrence of Stillbirths among Women Delivering in Selected Hospitals of Marsabit County

Abstract

Worldwide, of the 130 million babies born every year, approximately 4 million are stillborn, more than 98 per cent of these occur in developing countries. Stillbirth remains a widespread unfavorable pregnancy outcome estimated to occur in 2.64 million pre gnancies annually across the globe with majority of this cases occurring in low and middle - income countries. Even though the government of the Republic of Kenya has put in place several measures such as the National Health Insurance Fund, Free Child Delive ry Programs for pregnant women among other measures in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals on health, the problem of stillbirths continues to prevail in the country at alarming rates. The study sought to determine socio - economic factors associa ted with occurrence of stillbirths among women delivering in selected hospitals of Marsabit County. A cross - sectional descriptive study design was used targeting women who delivered at Marsabit County. The study used both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. A total sample size of 387 mothers were selected from Kalacha Sub - County Referral Hospital, Laisamis Sub - County Referral Hospital, Moyale Sub - County Referral Hospital and Marsabit County Referral Hospitals proportionately using syste matic sampling with a predetermined interval of 10 while 8 nurses were selected purposively to provide additional information as the Key Informants. After data collection, Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24.0 was used to analyze descriptive statistics for quantitative data. Inferential statistics were calculated using Chi Square and Fisher’s Exact Tests at 95% confidence interval and p - values of <0.05considered significant. The study results revealed that the rate of stillbirth occurrence wa s 5.9 per cent. Socio - economic factors such age (p=0.006), education (p=0.007), occupation (0.002) and level of income (p=0.047), maternal factors such as antenatal attendance (p=0.031), use of illicit drugs (p=0.041), low maternal weight (p=0.043) and tou gh domestic work (p=0.004). The results further revealed low knowledge levels among respondents with a significant influence (p=0.039) on outcome of delivery. The study concluded that the respondents from Marsabit County experience relative high rates of s tillbirths compared to the national figure. The outcome of delivery was significantly influenced by socio - economic and low knowledge levels which influenced outcome of delivery.