Knowledge and practices of traditional birth attendants on pregnancy related obstetric complications and childbirth: A case study of Chilumba Area of Kapiri Mposhi District

The objectives of this study were (a) to ascertain the knowledge of Traditional Birth
Attendants on pregnancy related obstetric complication. (b) To identify the sources of
knowledge for the Traditional Birth Attendants on the obstetric complications and (c) to
identify the Practices done by Traditional Birth Attendants when obstetric
complications are identified and examine the knowledge of consequences if obstetric
complications are not treated.
The sampling unit included all the Traditional Birth Attendants in the area at the time
of the study and a total of 56 Traditional Birth Attendants were interviewed in the
survey.The study design was purely anon experimental design which employed an
exploratory investigation. This was for a simple reason that it was conducted in
uncontrolled and natural setting. There was no control group in the research.The study
collected data using the structured questionnaires with both open and close ended
questions. SPSS was used in analyzing close ended questions and themes on open
ended questions.
Findings showed that the majority (75%) of the Traditional Birth Attendants were aware
of pregnancy related obstetric complications that occur during pregnancy, during
labour, post labour for the mother and the baby. The majority of the Traditional Birth
Attendants indicated having heard and come across the obstetric complications during
pregnancy 42(75%) and 38(68%), during delivery 48(85%) and 42(75%). The source of
knowledge did include ADRA, PMCT, CHAZ, Clinic and practices when obstetric
complications are observed did range from referring to clinic and giving traditional
medicines.
It is concluded that Traditional Birth Attendants can help in reducing the numbers of
maternal death through constant supervision and can be used as the medium of
change. There is need to provide the Traditional Birth Attendants with adequate
information on pregnancy related obstetric complications.