| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: Herbal use in pregnancy is a long time practice and is often regarded as a cultural or traditional practice in African setting (Saba lssayas, 1996).However there has been a growing trend of herbal use in other developed countries like china ,Japan USA, Australia among others (Wiley John et al ,2004). The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of herbal use during pregnancy on the utilization of antenatal care services in Nakawa Division.
Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the influence of herbal use in pregnancy on the utilization of modern maternal healthcare in Nakawa Division.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted in Nakawa division using both qualitative and quantitative methods of information gathering.
The primary sources of data were collected using structured interviews, key informant and the focus group discussion interviews. The secondary data was collected from the already existing, statistical, documents, reports, library books from health centers authority and other relevant sources. My study population was all pregnant women from Nakawa Division from which a sample of three hundred and eighty four (n =384) pregnant women who used herbs during pregnancy were drawn.
Results: Among the 384 pregnant women interviewed, 335(87.2%) had used herbs during pregnancy. A bivariate analysis was done to determine the level of influence on the utilization of ANC and it returned a significant P value of 0.000 and an odds ratio of 20.2.This meant that mothers who use herbs are 20.2 times likely not to attend ANC compared to the respondents who did not use herbs.
Mothers using herbs in the current pregnancy are 0.48 times less likely to have used them in the previous pregnancies, implying that mothers are more likely to use herbs in the subsquent pregnancies. Self employed mothers were 9.5 times more likely to use herbs than their employed (in a formal sector) counterparts.
Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that, herbal use in pregnancy has a significant influence on the utilization of ANC in Nakawa Division.The married pregnant mothers were 3.6 times more likely to use herbs when pregnant as compared to pregnant mothers who were separated in Nakawa division. This was indicated in the levels of income and the employment status of the pregnant mothers, which revealed that mothers who had low incomes use herbs more often than those whose income were high, which was a characteristic of majority of our respondents.
The study recommends that, sensitization should be directed towards those low income earners and self employed who are more vulnerable to use herbs. Mothers should be discouraged from using any un-prescribed drugs/herbs used for self medication.
It is recommended that antenatal care services should be free and availed to the mothers within the radius of 5km from their homes, and create and emphasize awareness messages about the importance of ANC attendances. | en_US |
