UTILIZATION OF MATERNITY SERVICES AND PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN RURAL NORTHERN NIGERIA

One thousand, four hundred and eighty four mothers in a rural area of Northern Nigeria who accounted for all singleton births over a nine-mo nth period were interviewed to determine the influence of utilization of maternity services in the area on pregnancy outcome. Ninety two per cent of the women had their deliveries at home while only 7.9% of the births occurred either at the district rural health centre or hospital . Twenty four percent of the mothers had initially attended the health centre for ante-natal care. Seventy two percent of the mothers had no form of ante-natal care, i.e, traditional or western orthodox care. O nly 9.1% of all the deliveries were attended to by a trained nurse/mid wife. Attendance for ante-natal care did not influence pregnancy outco me, but the risk of perinatal death in infants of mothers who delivere d at the rural health centre was approximately three times those who d elivered at home. Similarly, women who were assisted during delivery b y either a traditional birth attendant or relatives had statistically significant lower perinatal mortality rates compared to those recorded among women who were assisted by a trained nurse/midwife. The signifi cance of these findings and measures to improve utilization of materni ty services by the rural community are discussed.