An Assessment of Sources and Preferences Regarding Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness Information among Women in Edo State, Nigeria

Prenatal care offers the opportunity to advise pregnant women on preparation for birth and its complication and thus improving their preparedness. Unfortunately, prenatal visits are still a missed opportunity to adequately prepare women for birth in African settings. Objective: This study assessed the sources of information on birth preparedness and complication readiness (BAPCR) and the pregnant women preferences in Benin City, Nigeria. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and conducted among 405 pregnant women in their 3rd trimester attending antenatal care in Benin City. A pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. The analysis was both descriptive and multivariate. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as significant. Results: About 74.3% of respondents reported that they received advise on where to go when an emergency arises while only 69 (17%) of them were advised on arranging a blood donor. Fifty-three (13.1%) respondents reported to have been advised on all 5 basic components of BPACR while 15.6% were yet to be advised on any. Hospital (56.8%), television (43.2%) and internet (39%) ranked top of the preferred sources of information. Only 16 (4%) made arrangement for all 5 elements of BPACR while 84 (20.7%) were yet to make any arrangement. Having been advised on at least 3 BPACR elements was associated with women’s preparedness. Conclusion: Information, Education and Communication (IEC) during antenatal care plays a vital role in improving BPACR and hence prevention of maternal death. While hospital is still identified as the appropriate source of information by most of the respondents in this study, there is the need to also utilize other sources of information in order to ensure that more pregnant women are reached with the correct information and also serve as avenues to reinforce the information received during the antenatal clinic sections. There is the need to structure antenatal education and train health educators on BPACR to enhance effective information delivery.