Utilization of Material And Child Health Services in Mbwewe and Rupungwi Villages in Bagamoyo District : an intervention study . October 1981to may 1982

Integrated MCH services were established in Tanzania in 1974 NCH reports show that over 70% of the country is covered by the services and that more mothers and children attend NCH clinics each year. Despite the availability of the service and the awareness of the people, the percentage of deliveries supervised by trained personnel is low, vaccination coverage is low, and malnutrition and preventable disease remain the common causes of maternal and childhood morbidity and mortality. Therefore maximum utilization of services is as important as providing them. An intervention study on utilization of MCH services was done in Bagamoyo district between October 1981 and may 1982. Micro-mobile clinics were introduced at Mbwewe and Rupungwi villages. The clinics were conducted by MCHA’s assisted by health assistants and operated on a monthly basis. The findings show that taking the services near to the people without maintaining a continuous supply of vaccines and medicines has little impact on utilization. With reduced distance to MCH clinics more were children attend for follow-up clinic in steed of attending when they are sick. Also there is continuity of care since order children continue attending clinic. The vaccination coverage in this study was not improved because of poor distribution of kerosene and vaccines, and many children attending clinic only when they had complaints such as fever, diarrhea and vomiting. The role of mobile clinics to supplement static clinics is also discussed.