Magnitude and pattern of facility-based disrespect and abusive treatment of women during childbirth in Abia State, Nigeria.

Objectives: To ascertain the prevalence and pattern of reported facility-based disrespect and abuse of women during labour in Abia State, South-East, Nigeria.

Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study.

Setting: One urban and one rural healthcare facility in Abia State- Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia and Nigerian Christian Hospital (NCH) Nlagu, respectively.

Participants: A total of 312 women who were recently delivered of their babies in the two facilities in Abia State and attending postnatal clinics were sampled for the survey.

Main outcome measure: Disrespect and abuse D&A) during labour among women who give birth in healthcare facilities in Abia State.

Result: In all, over half (54.5%) of the women experienced disrespect and abuse in Abia State (50% urban and 63.5% in rural areas). The commonest form of disrespect and abuse was non-confidential care (22.9%). The commonest disrespectful and abusive care received was lack of privacy in the labour ward (18.3%).

Conclusion: The study recorded a high prevalence of reported facility-based disrespect and abuse of women during delivery in Abia State. Training and re-training healthcare providers to promote respectful care, advocacy to policy makers and healthcare stakeholders on the development of respectful maternal care policies and further research in the area are needed.

Funding: No funding was obtained for this study.