Abstract:

Postnatal period is a very critical stage for both the mothers and their babies. The importance of postnatal care services has been established in various studies globally. Yet postpartum care is the most neglected aspect of women’s health care, not only in developing countries but also in some developed countries. In Ghana 23% of postpartum mothers do not receive postnatal at all.

This study seeks to explore contributory factors associated with low postnatal service utilization in Ga East District of Greater Accra Region (GAR).

The study design was a cross sectional explorative and qualitative research using focus group discussions. The target population for the study were women in the reproductive age and living in the Municipality. The study used five focus group discussions to determine factors contributing to low postnatal coverage in Ga East Municipality.

A purposive sampling was employed to carry out to recruit the participants. The researcher moderated all discussions assisted by one trained assistants. The taped discussions were transcribed and the resulting texts analyzed by using thematic analysis.

The findings of the study will be communicated to both the School of Public Health and the Ghana Health Service.

Keywords: PNC; Postpartum; Postnatal; Coverage; Factors; Period.

References:

 Studies have found that the post-partum period also known as the pueperium begins with the delivery of the baby and the placenta. The end of the post-partum period is often considered as six to eight weeks after delivery because the effect of pregnancy on many systems may have resolved by this time and these systems would have largely returned to their pre pregnancy state. However, all organs do not return to their baseline within this period. The return to baseline is not necessarily linear overtime. In some studies, some women are considered post-partum for as long as 12months after delivery.

The need for continuum of care as a core principle of programs for maternal, new born and child health and as means to reducing maternal, new born and child death has been emphasized by recent literature.(Kerber, de Graft-Johnson, Bhutta, Okong, Starrs, & Lawn,2007) Postnatal care services are the most neglected programme of the reproductive and child health programmes in the African region and yet a number of serious complications and majority of maternal deaths occur during the postnatal period especially in this part of the world (Ogwang., 2005,Warren Daly, Toure & Mongi., n.d). Many African mothers and their newborns, especially those who delivery at home do not receive postnatal care (PNC). From 23 demographic health surveys (DHS), out of the two thirds of the sub-Saharan African women who delivered at home, only 13% received postnatal visit within two days of birth. According to the DHS data in Mali 85% of women who delivered at home received no PNC and in Eritrea, 92% of women who delivered at home received PNC after six weeks of birth. (Warren et al, n.d).