Nelie Alida MEPOUBONG KENGNE1*, Victorin Boris GNODJOM1 , Abou ZANABOU1, Franc Forex KIADJIEU1 , Andre Pascal GOURA K.1 , Benjamin C. AZIKE1 , Anthony CHEBE1 Jérôme ATEUDJIEU1
1M.A. SANTE (meilleure accès aux soins de santé)
CaHReF 2018, Yaoundé Congres hall, 08 – 11 January 2019 , OSME066
Background: In Cameroon, traditional birth attendant (TBA) services are mostly appreciated by the general population in the North, Far-North, East and Southern Regions because they are culturally, economically, socially and geographically accessible to them. In these settings, most childbirth occurs at home and is mostly assisted by unskilled attendance.
Objectif: The purpose was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of TBA on Childbirth, HIV/PMTCT services in the Logone and Chari Department.
Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study at the Health Districts of Mada and Kousseri during the Month of April 2018. TBA were assessed on their knowledge, attitudes and practices on delivery, HIV/PMTCT services through an interviewer-administered questionnaire in their local language (Arab-shua, Fufulde and Kotoko).
Results: 637 TBA were interviewed, 420 were from the Kousseri HD and 217 from Mada. TBA practiced deliveries for an average period of 18.72years. An average of 14.93 deliveries was performed byTBA in 3 months. A total of 598(93.9%) says that pregnant women may need to go to the Hospital and 209(32.8%)if she is HIV+.229(35.9%) says that they can be MTCT of infections during pregnancy but only 104(16.3%) said they can be MTCT of HIV. Only 88TBA (13.6%) knew that screening is necessary to know if a woman has an infectious disease. Only 24% of TBAwears gloves and 1.1%wears an apron during delivery
Conclusion/Recommandation: This study confirms that TBA lack basic knowledge and good practical attitudes during delivery or child birth; thus, rises the maternal and neonatal death risks and/or transmission of preventable infections like HIV from mother to child or from mother to TBA or from TBA to the mother on labour which doesn't align with the sustainable Development Goal 3. Hence, TBA need training on skilled birth attendance and on PMTCT services in their community.
Key Words: TBA, PMTCT, Delivery, Pregnancy