Maternal Health Service Delivery in Ghana: A Case Study of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Maternal mortality has become one of the major problems that has plagued the world, particularly in developing countries including Ghana. The overarching objective of this paper is to explore the maternal health service delivery in Ghana. Specifically, the study assessed the performance of service delivery of maternal health care with regards to the MDG 5; examined patients satisfaction with maternal health service delivery; and analyzed the effectiveness and efficiency of maternal health service delivery in Korle-Bu.  The Korle-Bu teaching hospital was chosen because it is the major national hospital in Ghana. Secondary data was collected from records of health facilities and primary data from the administration of a questionnaire with key variables that were studied including antenatal and postnatal care. A total sample size of 60 respondents was used in this study and the respondents comprised of women who visited the Korle-Bu teaching hospital for antenatal and post-natal services. The exploration of maternal service was done from two major perspectives, that is, women attitude towards attending antenatal care and post-natal care and the services provided by health care professionals towards achieving effective and efficient results. This approach was adopted because curbing maternal mortality is linked to attending proper and regular antenatal care.

The study revealed that antenatal care related negatively with maternal mortality whiles post-natal care related positively to maternal mortality. Findings also indicated that education of the public about the maternal health policy will help reduce the misconceptions and misunderstandings presented by the introduction of the policy. The paper argues from the findings that most women remained unaware about certain features of the maternal health policy. Thus, they encounter several problems due to this situation and it however delays childbirth. Findings also indicated that there is a positive relationship between the services provided by the health service personnel’s and the level of satisfaction that the women receive about the services provided to them. The findings of this paper also indicated that, in as much as Ghana has introduced several measures to help the country reduce the maternal mortality rate, there exist several shortfalls in its maternal health service delivery system. These shortfalls as indicated above hinder the efficient and effective delivery of better services offered to pregnant women. Thus, the study recommended the implementation of proper measures and mechanism in the policy that will help curtail the high rate of maternal mortality in the country and help the country achieve the MDG target set by the United Nations.

Keywords: Maternal Health, Maternal Health system, Maternal Mortality

DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/9-4-11

Publication date: April 30^th 2019