Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Classes at Primary Health Center in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Maternal mortality has been reported to be a challenge globally, with the highest maternal mortality in Africa. However, the first target for the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. To achieve this goal, pregnant women’s knowledge of birth preparedness and complication readiness (BPCR) is a key. Therefore, this study set out to assess knowledge of birth preparedness and complication readiness among pregnant women attending antenatal classes. This pilot study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional study design using quantitative approach. Structured questionnaire was used to generate data from 46 respondents after obtaining ethical approval for the study. All data collected were adequate for data analysis. The mean age is 27.71 years with a standard deviation of 5.85, the average booking time was 4.69 months. Among the respondents who had given birth before, the average number of children was two children (1.8571). After categorizing the knowledge scores, 52.2% of the women have good knowledge of obstetric danger signs, 20 (43.5%) of the women have poor knowledge of BPCR and 32 (69.6%) of the respondents have good knowledge of skilled birth attendants. In conclusion, there is a need to formulate policies and strategies that will help to improve pregnant women’s knowledge of BPCR if the first target of the third SDG will be achieved.