Antenatal services for pregnant teenagers in Mbarara Municipality, Southwestern Uganda: health workers and community leaders’ views

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Research Article

Dominic Allain¹  Godfrey Zari Rukundo²  Bob Harold Ashabahebwa³  Catherine Abaasa⁴  Peace Byamukama Natukunda⁵ 

[1] Department of Paediatrics, University of Alberta, Calgary, AB, Canada;Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda;Insurance Company of East Africa, Mbarara, Uganda;Kampala International University, Western Campus, Bushenyi, Uganda;Uganda Christian University, Kampala, Uganda;

关键词: Teenagers;    Pregnancy;    Antenatal services;    Community leaders;    Health workers;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12884-015-0772-0

 received in 2015-06-13, accepted in 2015-12-03,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundGlobally, about 11 % of all annual births involve adolescents aged 15–19 years. Uganda has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study assessed stakeholders’ views concerning factors affecting availability, accessibility and utilization of teenager friendly antenatal services in Mbarara Municipality, southwestern Uganda.MethodThis was a cross-sectional descriptive study utilizing Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). It was conducted in three divisions of Mbarara Municipality. The KIIs were held six Village Health Team (VHT) members, three gynecologists, six midwives, three Community leaders (LC 3 Secretaries for women affairs), one police officer from the Family and Child protection unit at Mbarara Police and three Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). Data analysis was done manually by identifying emergent themes which were later coded and organized into concepts which were later developed into explanations.ResultsReproductive health stakeholders generally considered teenage pregnancy to be among the high risk pregnancies that need to be handled with care. In addition, the reproductive health workers described their experience with teenagers as challenging due to their limited skills when it comes to addressing adolescent-specific needs. Adolescent-friendly services were defined as those that could provide privacy, enough time and patience when dealing with teenagers. With this description, there were no teenager-friendly antenatal services in Mbarara municipality at the time of the study. There is need for proactive steps to establish these services if the needs of this subgroup are to be met.ConclusionThere are no teenager friendly antenatal services in Mbarara municipality and few teenagers access and utilise the available general antenatal services. There is need for specialized training for health workers who deal with pregnant teens in Mbarara Municipality in order for them to provide teenager friendly services.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Rukundo et al. 2015