Men’s awareness on maternal mortality risk factors and participation in maternal health care a case of Kibaha district council in coast region, Tanzania

The study assessed men’s awareness on maternal mortality risk factors and participation in maternal health care, the focus being Kibaha District Council in Coast Region, Tanzania. The specific objectives of this study were to examine the extent of men’s awareness on maternal mortality risk factors, to examine the extent to which men participate in maternal health care and eventually to identify the barriers that hinder men’s participation in maternal health care. This was a cross sectional household survey, where a total of 400 men participated in this study. A multistage cluster sampling was used to select Wards, Villages and Streets for the study. Data were collected through interviews and FGDs. Analysis was done using SPSS version 15.0 computer program and content analysis for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Findings reveal that 49% of men made their wives pregnant but such wives were below 20 years and 60.5% reported their wives to stop childbearing at age 35 and above. Almost a half of respondents desired less than five children and 94.3% of the men were aware of FP methods and 61.8% used to space births. About 41% of the men reported to have adhered to traditional healers during their wives’ pregnancy and this was highly associated with age and education. Majority of the men (63.5%) were found to be aware of the early timing of first ANC visit but 42.8% did not know the number of times a pregnant woman was required to seek ANC care during pregnancy. Five out of ten men were able to cite at least one symptom of pregnancy complications and this was significantly associated with education. Furthermore, the findings show that more than half of the respondents accompanied their wives to ANC and maternity for delivery, discussed FP and helped domestic work after delivery but majority of the men did not attend various antenatal clinic sessions. The study also found that the reasons given as barriers to husband’s participationin maternal health care were centered on gender role and cultural norms. The majority perceived. this as women’s affair. The study concludes that, majority of men in the study area were less likely to be aware of the risks of early conception, old maternal age and traditional practice. Also they were not aware of the recommended four times ANC visits during pregnancy. Despite the fact that majority of men escorted their wives to antenatal care, their attendance to antenatal services was still low. The study recommends that maternal health education should be strengthened to increase outreach to men, particularly those in rural areas in order to obtain better knowledge of maternal mortality risk factors and maternal health issues in general.