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Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perinatal care and perinatal outcomes of mothers who delivered at Chiradzulu District Hospital and in the community. The cross-sectional study prospectively reviewed 626 health passports and records of labouring mothers that presented at the health facility and those that delivered in the community. Most of the participants (75%) attended primary education, were aged 19-35 (77%) and were married (72.8%). Except for Malaria and HIV,which accounted for 69.8 and 18.1% of mothers, respectively, few maternal health problems were reported: preeclampsia (1.2%), antepartum haemorrhage (9.4%) and anaemia (13% for mild, 11.1% for moderate and 2.4% for severe). Birth weight was significantly associated with preeclampsia and eclampsia (P<0.05). Fetal distress was significantly associated with Apgar score (P<0.05). Prolonged second stage of labour was a significant risk factor for still birth (P<0.05). Results show that maternal complications caused adverse perinatal outcomes and intrapartum complications caused the most adverse effects. Therefore there is a need to manage the maternal complications to promote neonatal survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, a high rate of maternal and neonatal deaths have been associated with home births. This study explored factors that influence pregnant women to deliver at home in the Thekerani Area of Thyolo district in Malawi. The study design was descriptive and recruited a convenience sample of 253 mothers. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire on women who were attending fewer than five postnatal and family planning clinics. The results identified four main factors that influenced home delivery; long-walking distance to a health facility (78%); lack of financial support while in hospital (52%); hostile behaviour of health personnel towards women in labour (40%) and traditional beliefs (31%). This study found that there is a need to: provide bicycle ambulances to each group village headman for easy transportation of pregnant women to health facilities, create awareness of birth preparedness and complications, upgrade existing primary health care centres to provide emergency obstetric and neonatal care services and empower the women financially through income generating activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the quality of focused antenatal care (FANC) services provided to pregnant women at Bwaila Maternity Hospital in Lilongwe District, Malawi. The study design was descriptive using a convenience sample of 369 antenatal mothers. A structured questionnaire was administered to pregnant women attending the antenatal care clinic to assess the quality and content of FANC services. The findings indicate that overall, the structure for providing FANC services scored above World Health Organization (WHO) standards (at 87%) while the process of delivery of services in terms of performance scored below standard (at 60%). On the outcomes, the maternal and neonatal mortality ratios were 206 per 100 000 and 19 per 1000 live births respectively. Community mobilization, training of health care providers and consistent supply of material resources necessary for providing FANC is recommended in order to further improve neonatal and maternal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A peer group HIV intervention programme was developed using a qualitative community-based participatory action research approach. Twenty-eight community leaders and 11 selected couples in two districts of Malawi were interviewed using individual formal interviews and focus group discussions between September 2007 and April 2008. Data was analysed using a modified constant comparison method. The study has developed HIV prevention interventions through a participatory process focusing on couple acceptability, intervention delivery methods and outcomes of participatory research. The results show that the peer education sessions should involve both men and women so that they learn together. Strategies on the spread of HIV, fidelity, HIV prevention communication, alcohol abuse, educating children on HIV prevention, sexual satisfaction, and condom use should be included in the intervention. Partnerships between researchers and communities are crucial for conducting successful community-based participatory research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous study has indicated that mothers are not satisfied with the amount of labour and childbirth information given in the hospital setting (Malata, 2000). This has implications for how these information needs can be addressed through a childbirth education programme. These needs can be divided into three domains: antenatal; labour and birth; and postnatal needs. A sequential quasi-experimental design was used to assess the structured childbirth education programme that was subsequently launched. Healthy pregnant women of at least 30 weeks gestation were recruited and the final sample sizes were 104 and 105 for the control and intervention groups. The control group attended the normal antenatal clinic and the intervention group enrolled in a childbirth education programme in addition to the antenatal clinic education. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, the mean pre-test and post-test scores for the control group across the three domains were not significantly different from each other (P >0.05). For the intervention group there were significant differences (P < 0.05) in the mean pre-test and post-test scores across the three domains. The results show that the childbirth education programme imparted knowledge to the intervention group who received more effective childbirth education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the events included at the 29th Triennial Congress to be held by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) in Durban, South Africa from June 19 to 23, 2011.