Factors related to choice of place of birth in a district in Nepal

Abstract

Objective: In Nepal, both percentage of women giving birth at health facility and proportion of birth assisted by skilled birth attendant is very low. The purpose of this research was to identify predictors for choice of place of birth: either at home, primary health care facility (including birthing centres) or at tertiary health care facilites (hospitals and clinics).

Methods: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in seven village development committee of a district lying in plain area of Nepal: Nawalparasi. A structured interview questionnaire was developed and administered face-to-face. Descriptive analysis along with chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of giving birth at a health care facility.

Results: Women were significantly more likely to give birth at health care facilities compared to home if the distance was less than one hour, belonged to advantaged caste, had radio, television and motorbike/scooter, decision maker for place of birth was husband, reported their frequency of antenatal (ANC) visits at 4 or more and belonged to age group 15-19.

Conclusion: The analysis indicates that husbands of women giving birth influence the choice of place of birth. The findings highlight importance of having four or more ANC visits to the health institutions and that it should be located within one-hour walking distance. Inequity in utilisation of childbirth services at health institutions exists as showed by low utilisation of such services by disadvantaged caste.

Keywords: Choice of place of birth; Nepal; Primary health care facility; Skilled birth attendance; Tertiary health care facility.