Factors Affecting Effectiveness Of Maternal Health Care Program Among Women In Machakos County Referral Hospital

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite advances in research and the constant support by the government and private partnerships on how to reduce the rate of maternal mortality among women in developing countries. Research still shows that there are still a lot of death associated with maternal care among both the mothers and the infants. This is an alarming situation to the community development agenda. Many maternal related projects continue to face a lot of challenges which are still to be addressed effectively through research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors affecting the effectiveness of maternal Health care program among women in Machakos County Referral Hospital. The specific objectives were to examine how poverty, culture , inadequate community participation and Mothers Perception on maternal care affects the effectiveness of maternal care program among women attending maternal clinics in Machakos County Referral Hospital. The study adopted the theory of change from which the conceptual framework was developed. A descriptive research design was adopted for this study. The target population comprised of 530 women attending clinics at the referral hospital between the months of December 2017 to March 2018. Samples of 53 women were sampled using simple random sampling of employees. A questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages by help of SPSS software version 21. The findings of the study were presented using tables and charts. The result of the study have revealed that all the four factors considered for this study have an influence on the effectiveness of maternal health care among mothers in Machakos County. The study has established that most of the mothers come from poor backgrounds and this affects the maternal health care programs as many of them lack the money to use in obtaining the required services. The study also revealed that culture has influences on the effectiveness of maternal health care. Similarly it was established that there is no community participation in the maternal health care programs and this affects the effectiveness of the maternal health programs. The study concluded that maternal health care is very important in enhancing the health of the child and the mother however it is hindered by various factors including poverty , culture , community support and lack of The findings of the study are expected to be beneficial to the hospital management, the ministry of health and to the women and their new born babies on how to tackle challenges related to maternal health care programs. The Government and Her partners such as WHO also benefit through improved implementation of health projects and development at the community level generally.