Reduction of Home Deliveries in Kaoma District: Impact of Safe Motherhood Action Groups from 2020 to 2021
Abstract:
Community-centered interventions,
such as safe motherhood action groups (SMAGs), that focus on community members’
involvement and participation are likely to be more accepted by local
communities than vertical top – down interventions. Furthermore,
community-based interventions are more likely to lead to desired health
behavioral change and favorable health outcomes. Inadequate human resource for
health where practically a patient may never see a physician, has prompted
Zambian Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2003, to establish Safe Motherhood Action
Groups (SMAGs) as part of a national safe motherhood program in view to
increase the utilization of maternal healthcare services (MHS). Currently, in Kaoma district of Western
Province, it is unknown how the SMAG program effectively impacts on reduction
of home deliveries. Therefore, our study aims to assess the impact of safe
motherhood action groups on home deliveries from 2020 to 2021. The study was
quantitative in design and used standard data collection tools. A Causal
Comparative method was used to establish the impact of safe motherhood action
groups on home deliveries. The overall results indicate tremendous decrease of
198% in home deliveries. Following our results, we concluded that SMAG program,
as a community intervention, effectively impacts on the reduction of home
deliveries in Kaoma district.
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