MATERNAL REFERRAL COMPLIANCE FOR DELIVERY SERVICE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN DIRASHE WOREDA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background; - Referral system is particularly important in pregnancy care and childbirth for providing access to emergency obstetric care and for backing up antenatal and delivery care in first line facilities. So it is widely accepted that substantial reduction in maternal mortality and sever morbidity are impossible to achieve without an effective referral system. However, maternity referral systems have been under-documented, under-researched, and under-theorised. Therefore, this study aims to assess maternal referral compliance and associated factors in Dirashe Woreda, Southern Ethiopia, 2015. Methods:A retrospective record review was employed to analyze the profile of 1598 mothers referred in Dirashe woreda in last five years. The data were first retrieved from birth registration book by abstraction form which was designed for this purpose and the data were entered in to Epi Info version 3.53. Then after cleaning, besidesdescriptive analysis bivariate and multivariate logistic regression also computed using SPSS version 20.0. Result: The proportion of maternal referral compliance was 81.1% (1296/1598) (95%CI= (79.18, 83.02). Urban residence [AOR= 1.86; 95% CI:(1.20, 2.87)], maternal education [AOR= 1.46; 95% CI: (1.02, 2.11)], twin pregnancy [AOR=1.94, 95% CI: 1.05, 3.57], having two to three ANC visits [AOR=3.05; 95% CI: (1.24, 7.73)] and greater or equal to four ANC visits [AOR=6.54; 95% CI: (2.68, 15.98)] were independent factors associated with maternal referral compliance. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that maternal referral compliance was high when compared with other studies. Independently associated predictors of maternal referral compliance were area of residence, maternal education, ANC visits and number of fetus in current pregnancy. Therefore, health workers should increase contact time and effort during counseling for referral especially rural, illiterate and singleton pregnant mothers by improving ANC uptake.