What the percentage of births in facilities does not measure: readiness for emergency obstetric care and referral in Senegal

IntroductionIncreases in facility deliveries in sub-Saharan Africa have not yielded expected declines in maternal mortality, raising concerns about the quality of care provided in facilities. The readiness of facilities at different health system levels to provide both emergency obstetric and newbor...

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Published in:	BMJ global health Vol. 5; no. 3; p. e001915
Main Authors:	Cavallaro, Francesca L, Benova, Lenka, Dioukhane, El Hadji, Wong, Kerry, Sheppard, Paula, Faye, Adama, Radovich, Emma, Dumont, Alexandre, Mbengue, Abdou Salam, Ronsmans, Carine, Martinez-Alvarez, Melisa
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 01-03-2020 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd BMJ Publishing Group
Subjects:	Births Childbirth & labor Cross-Sectional Studies Delivery, Obstetric - statistics & numerical data Emergency Service, Hospital - statistics & numerical data Female Fertility Global health Global positioning systems GPS Health care access Health facilities Health surveys Human health and pathology Humans Life Sciences Low income groups Maternal & child health Maternal mortality Medical referrals Midwifery Obstetrics Original Research Population density Pregnancy Public health Referral and Consultation - statistics & numerical data Regions Rural areas Santé publique et épidémiologie Senegal Womens health Senegal Africa maternal health referral emergency obstetric care Senegal readiness AFRIQUE SUBSAHARIENNE SENEGAL
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Summary:	IntroductionIncreases in facility deliveries in sub-Saharan Africa have not yielded expected declines in maternal mortality, raising concerns about the quality of care provided in facilities. The readiness of facilities at different health system levels to provide both emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) as well as referral is unknown. We describe this combined readiness by facility level and region in Senegal.MethodsFor this cross-sectional study, we used data from nine Demographic and Health Surveys between 1992 and 2017 in Senegal to describe trends in location of births over time. We used data from the 2017 Service Provision Assessment to describe EmONC and emergency referral readiness across facility levels in the public system, where 94% of facility births occur. A national global positioning system facility census was used to map access from lower-level facilities to the nearest facility performing caesareans.ResultsBirths in facilities increased from 47% in 1992 to 80% in 2016, driven by births in lower-level health posts, where half of facility births now occur. Caesarean rates in rural areas more than doubled but only to 3.7%, indicating minor improvements in EmONC access. Only 9% of health posts had full readiness for basic EmONC, and 62% had adequate referral readiness (vehicle on-site or telephone and vehicle access elsewhere). Although public facilities accounted for three-quarters of all births in 2016, only 16% of such births occurred in facilities able to provide adequate combined readiness for EmONC and referral.ConclusionsOur findings imply that many lower-level public facilities—the most common place of birth in Senegal—are unable to treat or refer women with obstetric complications, especially in rural areas. In light of rising lower-level facility births in Senegal and elsewhere, improvements in EmONC and referral readiness are urgently needed to accelerate reductions in maternal and perinatal mortality.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2059-7908 2059-7908
DOI:	10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001915