Introduction:

The Linda Mama project was established to eliminate financial barriers to accessing health servicesrnin public hospitals to encourage women to utilize facility-based deliveries hence ensuring saferndeliveries and consequently the reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths.

Objectives:

Purpose of the StudyrnThe study aimed to investigate how resource availability affected the implementation of the LindarnMama Maternal health Project in Kenya.rnObjectives of the StudyrnThe objectives of this study were as follows:rni. To examine the extent to which financial resource availability influence thernimplementation of Linda Mama Maternal Health project in Kitui County.rnii. To establish the influence of human resource on the implementation of Linda MamarnMaternal Health project in Kitui County.rniii. To examine the influence of availability of medical facilities on the implementation ofrnLinda Mama Maternal Health project in Kitui County.rniv. To determine the influence of information resource on the implementation of LindarnMama Maternal Health project in Kitui County.

Methodology:

Andersen HealthrnBehavior Model and the Health Belief Model and employed a descriptive research design. Thernstudy targeted mothers seeking maternal services from public hospitals health professionalsrnworking in public hospitals in Kitui County and key informants Nurse Managers in Charge ofrnhealth Services. 94 human resource and 99 maternal health beneficiaries while purposivernsampling was used to identify 5 Nurse Managers in charge of services. Self-administeredrnquestionnaires and key informant interviews were used to collect data

Findings:

Results:

Findings of the studyrnshowed that public hospitals in Kitui County receive inadequate reimbursement of funds whichrnare not disbursed on time affecting the ability of hospitals to cater for all the maternal healthcarernservices provide the required supplies and plan for the provision of maternal services Publicrnhospitals have variety of qualified hospital staff however there is a shortage of hospital staffrnresulting in a high workload and delays in attending to mothers Even though public hospitals inrnKitui County had essential maternal medical facilities these facilities are inadequate in proportionrnto the number of women seeking maternal services resulting in congestion and sharing of beds.rnThe study also found out that dissemination of information by the government through mainstreamrnmedia has created public awareness on the Linda Mama Maternity project effectively increasingrnutilization of the service and health facility-based deliveries. The study established that thernindependent variables financial resource availability human resource availability medicalrnfacilities and availability of information awareness account for 82.9 variation in thernimplementation of the Linda Mama Maternal Project.

Conclusion:

The study concludes that:rnThe abolition of user fee has increased the number of hospital deliveries ensuring the safety of thernmothers and the newborns. Therefore effective implementation of Linda Mama requires that adequate and timely reimbursement of finances to cater for all expenses incurred in the provisionrnmaternal health services to procure appropriate equipment and adequate supplies and for properrnplanning of provision of maternal services. However public hospitals in Kitui County receiverninadequate funds to cover all the maternal health services and provide the required supplies. Thernfunds are delayed affecting the ability of hospitals to properly plan for the provision of maternalrnhealth services.rnAdequate skilled human resource is required to provide quality maternal health services handlerncomplications emerging out of the deliveries and ensure mothers are attended to appropriately andrnon time. However the high number of women seeking maternal health services affected the abilityrnof human resource to provide quality. Even though there is a variety of qualified human resourcernin public hospitals in Kitui County there is a shortage of human resource resulting in a highrnworkload and delays in attending to mothers which compromises their ability to provide qualityrnmaternal services.rnAdequate and essential medical facilities are required to provide quality maternal services andrnspecialized and provide emergency services as a result of complications arising during deliveries.rnEven though public hospitals in Kitui County had essential medical maternal medical facilitiesrnthese facilities are not adequate in proportion to the number of women seeking maternal servicesrnparticularly maternal beds resulting in congestion and sharing of beds which increases the risk ofrninfectious diseases putting the health of women and newborns at risk.rnDissemination of information by the government through mainstream media creates informationrnresource among women on the Linda Mama Maternal project effectively increases facility-basedrndeliveries ensuring the safety of pregnant women and their newborns reducing the risk of maternalrnand neonatal deaths.

Author(s):

Focus County(s):

Kitui County

Programme Area(s):

Public Health & Health Research Systems

Research Priority Area(s):

Disease Domain(s):

Health Financing and Insurance

Publication Date: 01.Dec.2022

Conference Title:

Venue: