ABSTRACT Stillbirth is defined as a baby born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks’ gestation. Annually, over two million babies die before they are born, an estimated 18.9 stillbirths per 1000 births globally. Although there is an increasing attention on maternal, neonatal and child health, stillbirth …
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ABSTRACT Stillbirth is defined as a baby born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks’ gestation. Annually, over two million babies die before they are born, an estimated 18.9 stillbirths per 1000 births globally. Although there is an increasing attention on maternal, neonatal and child health, stillbirth often go unrecorded and remains a major public health problem. The main objective of the study was to assess the determinants of stillbirth in the Sunyani Municipality. This was a cross sectional study conducted among 281 ANC registrants in 3 hospitals within the Sunyani Municipality. The sampling methods used were Stratified and simple random. These methods were used to recruit the respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from the pregnant women age 15-49 years. The study showed 57.7% of the respondents were aged 20-30years and 71% lived in towns. About 82.6% had 1-2 children and 85.8% delivered at the health facility. Health seeking behaviour of mothers (Mean=16.24, SD=3.59); perceived severity of pregnancy, maternal knowledge of pregnancy danger signs as well as influence of cultural norms and beliefs of mothers were all perceived by the respondents to contribute to stillbirth. Health care access factors (Mean=11.96, SD=3.57); cost of healthcare service, inadequate transport system for pregnant women, poor road condition and network as well long distance were contributory factors to stillbirth. Midwives factors (Mean=13.7, SD=3.86); poor ANC services rendered by midwives, discrimination in terms of service delivery by midwives, absence of skilled birth attendant’s, poor attitude and behavior of midwives contributed to stillbirth occurrence. Intensifying health education on stillbirth and strengthening healthcare systems including ANC services at the selected health facilities would help reduce stillbirth occurrence
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