RESULTS
The total number of women giving birth at Taiz Houbane MCH Hospital was
1014 in August 2017 and 428 in November 2017, of which 11% (108/1014)
and 19% (82/428) were delivered by caesarean section, respectively. By
randomly selecting 250 women with vaginal births from each month to
assess quality of care further, 25% of women in August were included
for the in-depth analysis and 58% in November.
Background characteristics of labouring women were compared between the
250 women with vaginal birth in each period selected for in-depth
analysis as well as for all the caesarean sections. There were no
significant differences between the subgroups of women with vaginal
births and caesarean sections, and they are here presented as one group
for each study month. Proportion of women attending a minimum of one ANC
visit was lower in the low-volume month compared with the high-volume
month (44% (137/358) versus 52% (152/332), p=0.034). No other
indicator of background characteristics showed significant difference.
In brief, the total rate of pre-existing obstetrical risk factors in
current pregnancy was 34% (236/690) among all included women in both
study months. Among all, 36% (246/690) were nulliparous, 15% (105/690)
were para five or more, and 8% (54/690) were below the age of 20 years.
Among multiparous women, 24% (107/444) had previously suffered from the
death of a child. Of all women, 7% (49/690) were admitted after failed
trial of labour at home. Among these, where information on pre-hospital
augmentation was available, 88% (30/34) had received unregulated
oxytocin or misoprostol at home (Table 1).