Knowledge, attitude and perception of pregnancy danger signs among women of childbearing age in samaru community Northwestern Nigeria: Results from a cross-sectional survey

Context: The birth of a baby is a major reason for celebration worldwide. Yet, in most countries of the world, pregnancy and childbirth is a perilous journey. In Kaduna State, Northwestern Nigeria, the estimated maternal mortality ratio figure is 1025/100,000 live births. Despite the higher rates of maternal deaths, there is no empirical evidence on women's knowledge, perception, and attitudes toward pregnancy danger signs in Kaduna State. Aims: To determine the knowledge, attitude, and perception of pregnancy danger signs among women of childbearing age (15–49 years) in Samaru community Sabon-Gari Local Government Area in Kaduna State. Settings and Design: A community-based descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 185 women of reproductive age group. Subjects and Methods: Participants were randomly selected using a multistage sampling technique. Pretested structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The completed questionnaires were cleaned, coded, the data entered into a computer and SPSS version 20.0 was used for analysis. Statistical Analysis Used: Frequency, percentage, and descriptive summaries were used to describe the study variable using univariate analysis, while bivariate analysis was carried out to test for a relationship between categorical variables. Results: Only 4.9% of the respondents had good knowledge about danger signs in pregnancy while 3.8% of them have good attitude and one in ten respondents only (10.3%) has good perception of pregnancy danger signs. Conclusions: Our findings show that majority of women in childbearing age have poor knowledge, attitude, and perception on danger signs of pregnancy. Hence, the need to train and involve them on pregnancy dangers signs to curb the unnecessary deaths occurring during such period.