Improving maternal and child health: a situational analysis of primary health care centres of Sokoto state, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Primary health care facilities constitute the first point of contacts of public with healthcare and form integral part of the country’s health system.Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 88 primary care facilities in the State. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the facilities. Federal Ministry of Health integrated supportive supervision tool was adapted for data collection and analysis done using SPSS Version 20.0. The variables were summarised with frequency and percentage and results presented in tables.Results: Almost two-thirds (65%) of the facilities provide 24 hours service coverage for both maternal and child care services. Only 16% of the facilities had medical officers, 12.5% had required number of nurse/midwife while 27% had no single nurse/midwife. With respect to trainings, one third of the facilities had personnel trained on medium and extended lifesaving skills, 20% had a trained staff on emergency obstetrics and newborn care while 61% had no single trained personnel on integrated management of childhood illnesses. A large proportion of the facilities provide maternal services such as focused ANC and delivery but none use partograph to monitor labour. A good number of facilities were lacking basic equipment and medicine supply with about two third of facilities lacking misoprostol and magnesium sulphate, and only 15% had functional DRF.Conclusions: Health resources and the level of service provision in its current form may not lead to a significant improvement in maternal and child health in the state to guarantee universal coverage.