An Implementation Study of Interventions to Promote Safe Motherhood in Jimma Zone Ethiopia

Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality among all countries in Africa and indeed worldwide, with a maternal mortality ratio of 676 per 100,000 live births in 2011 (UNFPA, 2012). The majority of maternal deaths are preventable through early detection and management of complications, and access to adequate obstetric care (Say et al, 2014). However, in 2011 only 34% of women received antenatal care, 10% of births were delivered at a health facility and 7% of women received postnatal care during the first two days after delivery (Ethiopian DHS, 2011). Large distances and poor access to transport are two major obstacles that women face when trying to access services. In order to facilitate timely access to obstetric care, the Ethiopian Government introduced Maternity Waiting Areas (MWAs) at health centres to enable women to stay close to health facilities as they await delivery. Utilization of MWAs has generally been low due to the poor state of the homes and lack of adequate community support. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions to promote safe motherhood in increasing coverage of maternal health care services: (i) upgraded MWAs (ii) community and religious leader sensitization using information, education and communication (IEC) materials. The IEC materials are expected to increase leader awareness and support of antenatal care, facility deliveries, postnatal care and MWA use. Together with increased use of functional MWAs, improved support from leaders is expected to increase the proportion of facility-based births in interventions area. The interventions are also expected to positively impact antenatal care and postnatal care use in the study districts.