Introduction:

The purpose of the study was to establish the role of traditional maternal health care practices and antenatal and postnatalrncare in Mwingi Central Sub-County Kitui County

Objectives:

The following objectives guided the study to examine the effectsrnof traditional medical practices on antenatal and postnatal care and to investigate the influence of traditional beliefsrnon food and nutrition on antenatal and postnatal care in Mwingi Central Sub-County.

Methodology:

The study used descriptivernsurvey research design. The target population comprised of expectant lactating mothers and those with children belowrnfive years of age fathers caring for their children below five years of age traditional and conventional health carerngivers. Mixed method was used for data collection where questionnaires and interview guides were used as the researchrninstruments. From the five wards the researcher used 30 of these wards and randomly selected two wards to carry outrnthe study Mwingi Central and Kivou wards. Through Census method all the public health care institutions in therntwo wards were selected for the study due to their uniqueness. Conveniently twenty conventional health care workersrn258 traditional medical practitioners and 78 members of the general public. They responded to questionnaires throughrnface to face techniques done by the trained researchers. Interviews were also done with the traditional health care giversrnand the parents until saturated information was collected

Findings:

Results:

The study found out that 14239.4 of the respondentsrnagreed that there are antenatal clinic visit barriers in their community. Further 239 66.4 agreed that expectantrnwomen visit conventional health centers for their general treatment while 129 35.8 of the respondents agreed thatrnexpectant women visit traditional medical practitioners for their general health treatment. Majority of the respondentsrn298 82.8 agreed that there are prohibited foods for pregnant women in their community

Conclusion:

The study concluded that there are antenatal clinic visit barriers in their community. Expectant women visit both conventionalrnhealth centers and traditional medical practitioners for their general treatment. There are also prohibited foods for pregnantrnand lactating women in their community

Author(s):

Focus County(s):

Kitui County

Programme Area(s):

Sexual, Reproductive, Adolescent & Child Health

Research Priority Area(s):

Disease Domain(s):

maternal and child health

Publication Date: 16.Nov.2021

Conference Title:

Venue: