Background: Even though Child birth is a unique time for parents, families and communities, it is also a time that mothers may confront several health risks in connection to it. In many developing countries including Ethiopia, maternal morbidity and mortality still pose a Substantial burden. Raising awareness of women about obstetric danger is the crucial step in proper and timely obstetric care.
Objective: This study intends to assess the awareness of obstetric danger signs and associated factors among rural women of reproductive age in Abeshige district, Guraghe zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2017. A total of 454 women were randomly selected and interviewed using pretested structured questionnaires, while opinion leaders, health extension workers, and selected women in the community were engaged in in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, using checklists prepared to guide the interviews. Data from different sources were analyzed, triangulated, and interpreted to respond to the objectives.
Results: A total of 449 mothers were involved in the study, making a response rate of 98.9%. About 34.9%, 23.6% and 20% of the respondents were found to have good awareness on obstetric danger signs in connection to pregnancy, labour/delivery and postpartum respectively. Respondents awareness of obstetric danger signs was higher among women who lived within a 1-hour walk from a health center (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =3.01, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.78, 24.10) and Among women who got maternal health information from health extension workers and one-to-five women networks (AOR =2.30, 95% CI: 1.42, 5.21) and (AOR =2.01, 95% CI: 1.21, 4.39), respectively. Qualitative finding revealed that the community level health structures had a great role in improving women’s awareness of obstetric danger signs and service utilization.
Conclusion: In this study mother’s awareness of obstetric danger signs found to be relatively poor, making health facility accessible and further strengthening the community level health structure calls for more attention. Therefore, it is critical to build capacity of HEWs and the women one-to-five networks on mobilization and awareness creation. This may improve mother’s awareness of obstetric danger signs and thereby improving maternal health.
