DETERMINANTS OF HOME DELIVERY AMONG MOTHERS OF UNDER-FIVE CHILDREN IN MALAM-SIDI COMMUNITY, GOMBE STATE, NORTHEAST, NIGERIA

Ibrahim R.*, Muhammad F. Y., Abubakar Z. A. and Danladi M. U.

ABSTRACT

Reasons for the preferred home delivery among women in some rural communities of northern Nigeria need to be elicited to prevent higher number of untold complications associated with the practice. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of home delivery and the factors that influence home delivery among mothers of under five children in Malam-Sidi community of Gombe State. A cross-sectional study was conducted in which information was obtained from 301 respondents who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Chi-square test was used to compare the proportions of home delivery among the various groups and logistic regression was used to find the predicting factors of home delivery among the respondents. A P-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. The mean age of respondents was 22.7 ± 4.2 years, Those who are aged 15 - 24years constitute close to two-third (64.5%) of the study population. Of the total studied participants, majority (98.3%) were married and more the half (55.5%) were house wives. About two-third (65.8%) had no formal education. Close to two-third (64.5%) of the respondents delivered at home. Education, occupation religion and ante-natal clinic attendance were found to have significant association with place of delivery (P <0.05). The study concluded that significant proportion of mothers of under-five delivered at home in this community and those who are full term housewives as occupations are more likely to deliver at home than those that have one occupation or the other.

Keywords: Determinant, Home delivery, malam-sidi.