FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH UPTAKE OF SKILLED ATTENDANTS' SERVICES DURING CHILD DELIVERY IN GARISSA TOWN, KENYA.

OBJECTIVE To identify the factors that are associated with uptake of skilled delivery services during child delivery among women of reproductive age in Garissa town. DESIGN Cross sectional study. SETTING Garissa town. SUBJECT Three hundred and thirty four women aged 15-49 years who had had at least one delivery in their lifetime were asked about the type of delivery services they had during their last child delivery. RESULTS The study found that 47% of the last deliveries women were attended by skilled persons and the rest of the deliveries were provided by TBAs. The predictors of skilled delivery uptake in this study were found to be; having knowledge on skilled delivery service providers (AOR = 17.2; 95% CI: 1.05-281.12; p = 0.046), child deliveries numbering one to three (AOR = 116.95; 95% CI: 26.68-512.64; p = 0.001) and four to six (AOR = 16.75; 95% CI: 4.44-62.87; p = 0.001), presence of previous delivery complication (AOR = 11.71; 95% CI: 3.96-34.60; p = 0.001), disapproval of TBA services (AOR = 27.19; 95% CI: 6.67-110.76; p = 0.001), lack of preference for gender of skilled delivery service provider (AOR = 6.51; 95% CI: 1.08-39.37; p = 0.041), and positive view on service related factors such as time to nearest facility (AOR = 3.91; 95% CI: 1.24-12.34; p = 0.020), hygiene (AOR = 5.03; 95% CI: 1.49-17.05; p = 0.009) and operation time of health facility (AOR = 4.67; 95% CI: 1.59-13.76; p = 0.005). CONCLUSSION The findings show that cultural and maternal factors as well as quality of services at facility level play major role in determining uptake of skilled services among women in Garissa as compared to social demographic and economic factors.