Quality of Care for Maternal and Newborn Health in Health Facilities in Nepal

Introduction

Nepal has pledged to substantially reduce maternal and newborn death by 2030. Improving quality of intrapartum health services will be vital to reduce these deaths. This paper examines quality of delivery and newborn services in health facilities of Nepal.

Methods

Data were sourced from the Nepal Health Facility Survey 2015, which covered a national representative sample of health facilities. The datasets were analysed to assess service readiness, availability and quality of delivery and newborn care in a sample of 992 health facilities.

Results

Of the 992 facilities in the sample, 623 provided delivery and newborn care services. Of the 623 facilities offering delivery and newborn care services, 13.3% offered comprehensive emergency obstetric care (CEmONC), 19.6% provided basic emergency obstetric care (BEmONC) and 53.9% provided basic delivery and newborn service. The availability of essential equipment for delivery and newborn care was more than 80% in health facilities. Except for the coverage of vitamin K injection, the coverage of immediate newborn care was more than 85% in all health facilities. The coverage of use of chlorhexidine ointment to all newborns was more than 70% in government hospitals and primary health care centers (PHCCs) and only 32.3% in private hospitals.

Conclusions

These findings show gaps in equipment and drugs, especially in PHCCs and private health facilities. Improving readiness and availability of equipment and drugs in PHCCs and private health facility will help improve the quality of care to further reduce maternal and newborn mortality in Nepal.

     

Newborn survival in Uganda: a decade of change and future implications

Each year in Uganda 141 000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday; 26% of these children die in their first month of life. In a setting of persistently high fertility rates, a crisis in human resources for health and a recent history of civil unrest, Uganda has prioritized Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 for child and maternal survival. As part of a multi-country analysis we examined change for newborn survival over the past decade through mortality and health system coverage indicators as well as national and donor funding for health, and policy and programme change. Between 2000 and 2010 Uganda's neonatal mortality rate reduced by 2.2% per year, which is greater than the regional average rate of decline but slower than national reductions in maternal mortality and under-five mortality after the neonatal period. While existing population-based data are insufficient to measure national changes in coverage and quality of services, national attention for maternal and child health has been clear and authorized from the highest levels. Attention and policy change for newborn health is comparatively recent. This recognized gap has led to a specific focus on newborn health through a national Newborn Steering Committee, which has been given a mandate from the Ministry of Health to advise on newborn survival issues since 2006. This multi-disciplinary and inter-agency network of stakeholders has been able to preside over a number of important policy changes at the level of facility care, education and training, community-based service delivery through Village Health Teams and changes to essential drugs and commodities. The committee's comprehensive reach has enabled rapid policy change and increased attention to newborn survival in a relatively short space of time. Translating this favourable policy environment into district-level implementation and high quality services is now the priority.     

Scope of health systems research in Child Survival and Safe Motherhood programme

Editorial commentary focused on several Health System Research (HSR) approaches which exemplified some of the key issues for application of HSR for further improvement in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services in India. The goals of HSR are to delineate health policy which improves the operations of the health care delivery system for sustainability at the district level. HSR is part of a global effort of Health For All by 2000 AD and India's Child Survival and Safe Motherhood (CSSM) program, sponsored by IDA/UNICEF. CSSM aims also to end polio by 2000 AD, eliminate neonatal tetanus by 1995, and prevent deaths and morbidity from measles, diarrheal diseases, and acute respiratory infection. MCH services will be expanded at the village, subcenter, primary health center, and community health center levels in order to reduce maternal mortality to below 2/1000 from the 1990 5/1000 and to reduce mortality of children aged 1-4 years to less than 10/1000 live births from 80/1000 by 2000 AD. States with particularly high levels of child and maternal mortality are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, which have about 40% of India's population. These states have low marriage ages, low female literacy, and few women in nonagricultural employment. There are about 90 districts in these states with particularly low demographic indicators. India policy directs all CSSM work to be carried out by existing staff; the program emphasis will be training, supervision, and logistics. IEC will need to be directed to attitudinal change in rural areas and urban slums. Research has found that coverage is uneven and quality of MCH services, poor. One study will evaluate the performance over 5 years in Gwalior district in a nutrition and school health program. Another research effort will perform quality assessment of MCH care at the primary health care level and promote community awareness and increased utilization. An ongoing study is evaluating nationally the family welfare services and MCH program at the primary health center level. The several agencies conducting HSR included the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Council of Medical Research, and the BJ Medical College. Multidisciplinary research is still needed in order to understand the malnutrition among pregnant mothers and use of health services by women.     

The socio-economic determinants of maternal health care utilization in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to investigate the individual-, household- and community-level factors that affect women's use of maternal health care services in Turkey. The data used for the study come from the 1993 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS), a nationally representative survey of ever married women 15 to 49 years of age. In order to assess the impact of socio-economic factors on maternal health care utilization, we use logistical regression techniques to estimate models of the prenatal care use and birth delivery assistance among women who have had at least one birth in the three years prior to the survey. Separate models are also estimated for urban and rural women. The results indicate that educational attainment, parity level, health insurance coverage, ethnicity, household wealth and geographic region are statistically significant factors that affect the use of health care services thought essential to reduce infant and child mortality rates. The results of the model are used to provide insights for both micro- and macro-level planning of maternal health service delivery.     

Community-based delivery of maternal care in conflict-affected areas of eastern Burma: Perspectives from lay maternal health workers

In settings where active conflict, resource scarcity, and logistical constraints prevail, provision of maternal health services within health centers and hospitals is unfeasible and alternative community-based strategies are needed. In eastern Burma, such conditions necessitated implementation of the “Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Worker” (MOM) project, which has employed a community-based approach to increase access to essential maternal health services including emergency obstetric care. Lay Maternal Health Workers (MHWs) are central to the MOM service delivery model and, because they are accessible to both the communities inside Burma and to outside project managers, they serve as key informants for the project. Their insights can facilitate program and policy efforts to overcome critical delays and insufficient management of maternal complications linked to maternal mortality. Focus group discussions (n = 9), in-depth interviews (n = 18), and detailed case studies (n = 14) were collected from MHWs during centralized project management meetings in February and October of 2007. Five case studies are presented to characterize and interpret the realities of reproductive health work in a conflict-affected setting. Findings highlight the process of building supportive networks and staff ownership of the MOM project, accessing and gaining community trust and participation to achieve timely delivery of care, and overcoming challenges to manage and appropriately deliver essential health services. They suggest that some emergency obstetric care services that are conventionally delivered only within healthcare settings might be feasible in community or home-based settings when alternatives are not available. This paper provides an opportunity to hear directly from community-based workers in a conflict setting, perspectives seldom documented in the scientific literature. A rights-based approach to service delivery and its suitability in settings where human rights violations are widespread is highlighted.     

Making abortions safe: a matter of good public health policy and practice

Globally, abortion mortality accounts for at least 13% of all maternal mortality. Unsafe abortion procedures, untrained abortion providers, restrictive abortion laws and high mortality and morbidity from abortion tend to occur together. Preventing mortality and morbidity from abortion in countries where these remain high is a matter of good public health policy and medical practice, and constitutes an important part of safe motherhood initiatives. This article examines the changes in policy and health service provision required to make abortions safe. It is based on a wide-ranging review of published and unpublished sources. In order to be effective, public health measures must take into account the reasons why women have abortions, the kind of abortion services required and at what stages of pregnancy, the types of abortion service providers needed, and training, cost and counselling issues. The transition from unsafe to safe abortions demands the following: changes at national policy level; abortion training for service providers and the provision of services at the appropriate primary level health service delivery points; and ensuring that women access these services instead of those of untrained providers. Public awareness that abortion services are available is a crucial element of this transition, particularly among adolescent and single women, who tend to have less access to reproductive health services generally.     

吉林省四平市2009—2013年妇幼卫生工作数据分析

目的通过对2009—2013年四平市妇幼卫生保健服务数据整理、审核、汇总和分析,掌握全市妇幼卫生工作数据,为卫生行政部门制定相应干预措施提供重要依据。方法收集2009—2013年间,四平市所辖7个县（市）区上报的妇幼卫生信息年报表、孕产妇、儿童死亡报告卡等数据进行分析研究。结果四平市儿童保健服务指标总体连续5年都有不同程度上升。2013年7岁以下儿童保健覆盖率为90．10％、3岁以下儿童系统管理率为89．83％。孕产妇保健服务各项指标均有上升,2013年系统管理率89．60％、住院分娩率100％。结论四平市近5年来儿童保健与孕产妇保健服务水平不断提高,婴儿死亡率逐年下降,孕产妇死亡率前3年逐年下降,2013年出现波动,上升幅度很大。提示妇幼卫生工作取得较好效果,但也存在一定问题,要重点加强孕产妇保健系统管理工作,特别是高危重症孕产妇的抢救与管理。     

The equity principle in the allocation of health care expenditure on primary health care services in Portugal: the human capital approach.

This article examines the equity principle as it could be applied to the financing of primary health care resources in Portugal. Three resource allocation criteria are considered: namely, the demand/utilization criterion; the health situation criterion; and, the coverage by health services criterion. With data based on health service expenditure, district by district, for 1983, the article shows that quite different results would emerge from the selection of one criterion rather than another. In particular, a policy of positive discrimination would reallocate resources towards the north rather than the south of Portugal, though differences would emerge between districts and between specific activities provided within the framework of primary health care. The results are presented and conclusions drawn.     

How much does it cost to achieve coverage targets for primary healthcare services? A costing model from Aceh,Indonesia

Despite significant investment in improving service infrastructure and training of staff, public primary healthcare services in low‐income and middle‐income countries tend to perform poorly in reaching coverage targets. One of the factors identified in Aceh, Indonesia was the lack of operational funds for service provision. The objective of this study was to develop a simple and transparent costing tool that enables health planners to calculate the unit costs of providing basic health services to estimate additional budgets required to deliver services in accordance with national targets. The tool was developed using a standard economic approach that linked the input activities to achieving six national priority programs at primary healthcare level: health promotion, sanitation and environment health, maternal and child health and family planning, nutrition, immunization and communicable diseases control, and treatment of common illness. Costing was focused on costs of delivery of the programs that need to be funded by local government budgets. The costing tool consisting of 16 linked Microsoft Excel worksheets was developed and tested in several districts enabled the calculation of the unit costs of delivering of the six national priority programs per coverage target of each program (such as unit costs of delivering of maternal and child health program per pregnant mother). This costing tool can be used by health planners to estimate additional money required to achieve a certain level of coverage of programs, and it can be adjusted for different costs and program delivery parameters in different settings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2018年河南省妇幼保健机构服务能力初步分析

目的 初步分析2018年河南省妇幼保健机构服务能力现状,为妇幼保健机构服务能力的建设提供参考。方法 对河南省各级妇幼保健机构相关数据进行统计学对比分析,主要包括开展诊疗服务的机构情况、开展住院服务机构床位分布情况、卫生技术人员学历及数量变化情况、孕产妇和新生儿危重症救治中心建设情况、妇幼健康核心指标变化情况。结果 河南省172所妇幼保健机构中床位数占比最多的是产科,其次是儿科,分别为34.35%、21.37%。2010—2018年全省妇幼保健机构床位数呈现逐年上升的趋势,婴儿死亡率（2010年为7.1‰,2018年为3.8‰）、5岁以下儿童死亡率（2010年为8.7‰,2018年为5.3‰）、孕产妇死亡率（2010年为15.2/10万,2018年为10.9/10万）指标整体呈下降趋势,优于全国指标。在县区级妇幼保健机构中,卫生技术人员主要以大专及以下学历为主,占63.66%,孕产妇危重症救治中心和新生儿危重症救治中心建设占比分别为50.65%、40.91%。结论 河南省各级妇幼保健机构发展良好,服务能力稳步提升,但是各机构之间服务能力存在差异。县区级妇幼保健机构受卫生技术人才限制,服务能力需要进一步提升。     

Reforming health service delivery at district level in Ghana: the perspective of a district medical officer.

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa face the problem of organizing health service delivery in a manner that provides adequate quality and coverage of health care to their populations against a background of economic recession and limited resources. In response to these challenges, different governments, including that of Ghana, have been considering or are in the process of implementing varying degrees of reform in the health sector. This paper examines aspects of health services delivery, and trends in utilization and coverage, using routine data over time in the Dangme West district of the Greater Accra region of Ghana, from the perspective of a district health manager. Specific interventions through which health services delivery and utilization at district level could be improved are suggested. Suggestions include raising awareness among care providers and health managers that increased resource availability is only a success in so far as it leads to improvements in coverage, utilization and quality; and developing indicators of performance which assess and reward use of resources at the local level to improve coverage, utilization and quality. Also needed are more flexibility in Central Government regulations for resource allocation and use; integration of service delivery at district level with more decentralized planning to make services better responsive to local needs; changes in basic and inservice training strategies; and exploration of how the public and private sectors can effectively collaborate to achieve maximum coverage and quality of care within available resources.     

流动人口妇幼保健服务利用及服务提供模式的定性研究

采用专题小组讨论和个人深入访谈的方法,了解了现行的医疗保健服务系统为流动人口提供妇幼卫生服务以及流动人口妇女儿童对这些服务的利用情况,同时了解了服务提供者对如何提高流动人口妇幼保健服务利用的有关意见和建议。研究发现,对于流动人口这一特殊群体,大多数医疗保健机构仍然只是坐堂行医,没有树立上门服务的思想。医疗保健机构人员配置和经费供给不足等因素影响其为流动人口提供妇幼保健服务。大多数流动人口妇女在大城市艰苦的生活状况和自身的文化素质决定了她们寻求医疗保健服务的态度以及接受医疗保健服务的能力,有相当部分的人就医选择的是私人诊所和非法行医者。建议在目前现有的条件下,充分利用现有资源,调动各方面的力量,建立以社区为依托,多部门合作的流动人口妇幼保健服务模式。同时,政府在重点地区相关机构人员的配备和经费的投入上应该考虑流动人口,适当增加人员和经费。     

Antenatal care services in rural Uganda: missed opportunities for good-quality care

Experience from countries that have achieved low maternal mortality suggests that access to good-quality maternity services is critical to improve maternal health. In this article we appraise the quality of antenatal care (ANC) services in a rural district of Uganda. We used a mixed methods approach, relying on a combination of semistructured interviews with both clients and providers, structured observations of provider-patient interactions, and infrastructure assessment of selected health facilities. We found several bottlenecks in health service delivery, including ineffective organization of educational sessions; selective omission of certain services; lack of explanation of important clinical and laboratory procedures; failure to link the performed procedures with preventive information; and occasional lack of respect for clients. The policy implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the need to (a) ensure an adequate supply of medical equipment and drugs, (b) enhance health workers' compliance with ANC guidelines, and (c) combine medical procedures with educational messages.     

Contextual determinants of maternal mortality in rural Pakistan

Maternal mortality is high in Pakistan, particularly in the rural areas which have poor access to health services. We investigated the risk factors associated with maternal mortality in sixteen rural districts of Balochistan and the North-West Frontier (NWFP) provinces of Pakistan. We designed a nested case–control study comprising 261 cases (maternal deaths reported during last five years) and 9135 controls (women who survived a pregnancy during last five years). Using contextual analysis, we estimated the interactions between the biological risk factors of maternal mortality and the district-level indicators of health services. Women under 19 or over 39 yr of age, those having their first birth, and those having a previous history of fetal loss were at greater risk of maternal death. Staffing patterns of peripheral health facilities in the district and accessibility of essential obstetric care (EOC) were significantly associated with maternal mortality. These indicators also modified the effects of the biological risk factors of maternal mortality. For example, nulliparous women living in the under-served districts were at greater risk than those living in the better-served districts. Our results are consistent with several studies which have pointed out the role of health services in the causation of maternal mortality. Many such studies have implicated distance to hospital (an indicator of access to EOC) and lack of prenatal care as major determinants of maternal mortality. We conclude that better staffing of peripheral health facilities and improved access to EOC could reduce the risk of maternal mortality among women in rural Balochistan and the NWFP.     

Low use of skilled attendants' delivery services in rural Kenya

The aim of the study was to estimate the use of skilled attendants' delivery services among users of antenatal care and the coverage of skilled attendants' delivery services in the general population in Kikoneni location, Kenya. Data collected from the registers at the Kikoneni Health Centre (KHC) from March 2001 through March 2003 were retrospectively reviewed. Antenatal care attendance, deliveries by skilled attendants, and the percentage of antenatal care attendees who delivered in a healthcare facility were assessed. Deliveries at the KHC were compared with expected births in the population to estimate the coverage of deliveries assisted by skilled attendants in the community. Of 994 women who attended the antenatal care clinic, 74 (7.4%) presented for delivery services. 5.4% of expected births in the population occurred in health facilities. The coverage of deliveries assisted by skilled attendants was far below the national and international goals. The use of institutional delivery services was very low even among antenatal care attendees. Targeted programmatic efforts are necessary to increase skilled attendant-assisted births, with the ultimate goal of reducing maternal mortality.     

影响农村妇女孕产期保健的社会因素分析

目的:探讨影响农村妇女孕产期保健的社会因素。方法:采用定性研究方法,根据目的抽样的原则,抽取孕产期保健服务的提供者、利用者以及地方级别的关键知情人士进行焦点小组访谈、个人深入访谈和关键人物访谈。结果:家庭经济贫困的妇女相对经济好的妇女更不容易利用保健服务;新型农村合作医疗可以吸引妇女到医院分娩,提高住院分娩率,降低母婴死亡率;交通对孕产妇利用保健服务有很大的影响;计划生育政策是计划外生育妇女利用孕产期服务最主要的障碍;流动妇女对孕产期保健服务的利用率低;当地农村仍奉行一些关于生孩子的传统习俗。结论:建议政府制定相关政策限制日益增长的医疗费用;加强流动人口和计划外生育妇女的管理;对农村妇女进行孕产期健康教育;扩大新型农村合作医疗的覆盖范围。     

NGO facilitation of a government community-based maternal and neonatal health programme in rural India: improvements in equity

Socio-economic disparities in health have been well documented around the world. This study examines whether NGO facilitation of the government's community-based health programme improved the equity of maternal and newborn health in rural Uttar Pradesh, India. A quasi-experimental study design included one intervention district and one comparison district of rural Uttar Pradesh. A household survey conducted between January and June 2003 established baseline rates of programme coverage, maternal and newborn care practices, and health care utilization during 2001-02. An endline household survey was conducted after 30 months of programme implementation between January and March 2006 to measure the same indicators during 2004-05. The changes in the indicators from baseline to endline in the intervention and comparison districts were calculated by socio-economic quintiles, and concentration indices were constructed to measure the equity of programme indicators. The equity of programme coverage and antenatal and newborn care practices improved from baseline to endline in the intervention district while showing little change in the comparison district. Equity in health care utilization for mothers and newborns also showed some improvements in the intervention district, but notable socio-economic differentials remained, with the poor demonstrating less ability to access health services. NGO facilitation of government programmes is a feasible strategy to improve equity of maternal and neonatal health programmes. Improvements in equity were most pronounced for household practices, and inequities were still apparent in health care utilization. Furthermore, overall programme coverage remained low, limiting the ability to address equity. Programmes need to identify and address barriers to universal coverage and care utilization, particularly in the poorest segments of the population.     

Coping with changing conditions: alternative strategies for the delivery of maternal and child health and family planning services in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The door-to-door distribution of contraceptives and information on maternal and child health and family planning (MCH-FP) services, through bimonthly visits to eligible couples by trained fieldworkers, has been instrumental in increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate and immunization coverage in Bangladesh. The doorstep delivery strategy, however, is labour-intensive and costly. More cost-effective service delivery strategies are needed, not only for family planning services but also for a broader package of reproductive and other essential health services. Against this backdrop, operations research was conducted by the Centre for Health and Population Research at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) from January 1996 to May 1997, in collaboration with government agencies and a leading national nongovernmental organization, with a view to developing and field-testing alternative approaches to the delivery of MCH-FP services in urban areas. Two alternative strategies featuring the withdrawal of home-based distribution and the delivery of basic health care from fixed-site facilities were tested in two areas of Dhaka. The clinic-based service delivery strategy was found to be a feasible alternative to the resource-intensive doorstep system in urban Dhaka. It did not adversely affect programme performance and it allowed the needs of clients to be addressed holistically through a package of essential health and family planning services.     

Newborn survival in Pakistan: a decade of change and future implications

Pakistan has the world's third highest national number of newborn deaths (194 000 in 2010). Major national challenges over the past decade have affected health and development including several large humanitarian disasters, destabilizing political insurgency, high levels of poverty and an often hard-to-reach predominately rural population with diverse practices. As part of a multi-country analysis, we examined changes for newborn survival between 2000 and 2010 in terms of mortality, coverage and health system indicators as well as national and donor funding. Neonatal mortality declined by only 0.9% per annum between 2000 and 2010; less than the global average (2.1%) and less than national maternal and child mortality declines. Coverage of newborn care interventions increased marginally, with wide socio-economic variations. There was little focus on newborn health until 2000 when considerable policy change occurred, including integration of newborn care into existing community-based maternal and child packages delivered by the Lady Health Worker Programme and national behaviour change communications strategies and programmes. The National Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme catalyzed newborn services at both facility and community levels. Civil society and academics have linked with government and several research studies have been highly influential. Since 2005, donor funding mentioning the term 'newborn' has increased more for Pakistan than for other countries. The country faces ongoing challenges in reducing neonatal mortality, and in much of Pakistan, societal norms discourage care-seeking and many women are unable to access care for themselves or their children. The policy advances and existing delivery platforms offer the potential to substantially accelerate progress in reducing neonatal deaths. The recent decision to dismantle the national Ministry of Health and devolve responsibility for health sector management to the provincial level presents both challenges and opportunities for newborn health.     

Only when the boat has started sinking: A maternal death in rural north India

This paper uses a close reading of villagers’ responses to the death in childbirth of a Muslim woman to raise questions about India’s current policy emphasis on institutional delivery as a means of reducing maternal mortality. After introducing the context and methods of our research, we describe recent policy interventions related to maternal health, including the National Rural Health Mission established in 2005. We then outline villagers’ commentaries on the specific maternal death, focusing on the costs to women’s health (and sometimes life) of high fertility; the lack of care available from rural government facilities and staff and the preference for delivering at home with the aid of local practitioners; the financial constraints that make people hesitate to seek medical treatment; and the high costs of private treatment and the poor treatment experienced in government facilities. Our core argument is that government health care provision in rural Uttar Pradesh is embedded in a moral universe characterised by widespread and long-term mistrust of state services and that encouraging institutional deliveries without addressing the perceptions of potential service users is a seriously flawed approach to reducing maternal mortality. The paper draws primarily on ethnographic research funded by the Wellcome Trust during 2002–2005, in a Muslim village in rural Bijnor district (in north-western Uttar Pradesh).