ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2009
Maternal morbidity in the first year after childbirth in Mombasa Kenya; a needs assessment.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal multimorbidity during pregnancy and after childbirth in women in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic literature review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Pooled it
- Maternal anaemia and duration of zidovudine in antiretroviral regimens for preventing mother-to-child transmission: a randomized trial in three African countries.BMC infectious diseases · 2013Trial
- The prevalence and severity of late postnatal anaemia amongst women at the Buea and Limbe Regional Hospitals in Cameroon.The Pan African medical journal · 2025Article
- Observational
- Missed opportunities for family planning counselling among postpartum women in eleven counties in Kenya.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Discharge instructions given to women following delivery by cesarean section in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- High prevalence of curable sexually transmitted infections among pregnant women in a rural county hospital in Kilifi, Kenya.PloS one · 2017Article
- Opportunities to improve postpartum care for mothers and infants: design of context-specific packages of postpartum interventions in rural districts in four sub-Saharan African countries.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2015Article
- Non-Life Threatening Maternal Morbidity: Cross Sectional Surveys from Malawi and Pakistan.PloS one · 2015Article
- Framing maternal morbidity: WHO scoping exercise.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2013Review
- Mortality after near-miss obstetric complications in Burkina Faso: medical, social and health-care factors.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2012Article
- Family planning and the burden of unintended pregnancies.Epidemiologic reviews · 2010Review
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn sub-Saharan Africa, few services specifically address the needs of women in the first year after childbirth. By assessing the health status of women in this period, key interventions to improve maternal health could be identified. There is an underutilised opportunity to include these interventions within the package of services provided for woman-child pairs attending child-health clinics.
methodsThis needs assessment entailed a cross-sectional survey with 500 women attending a child-health clinic at the provincial hospital in Mombasa, Kenya. A structured questionnaire, clinical examination, and collection of blood, urine, cervical swabs and Pap smear were done. Women's health care needs were compared between the early (four weeks to two months after childbirth), middle (two to six months) and late periods (six to twelve months) since childbirth.
resultsMore than one third of women had an unmet need for contraception (39%, 187/475). Compared with other time intervals, women in the late period had more general health symptoms such as abdominal pain, fever and depression, but fewer urinary or breast problems. Over 50% of women in each period had anaemia (Hb <11 g/l; 265/489), with even higher levels of anaemia in those who had a caesarean section or had not received iron supplementation during pregnancy. Bacterial vaginosis was present in 32% (141/447) of women, while 1% (5/495) had syphilis, 8% (35/454) Trichomonas vaginalis and 11% (54/496) HIV infection.
conclusionThroughout the first year after childbirth, women had high levels of morbidity. Interface with health workers at child health clinics should be used for treatment of anaemia, screening and treatment of reproductive tract infections, and provision of family planning counselling and contraception. Providing these services during visits to child health clinics, which have high coverage both early and late in the year after childbirth, could make an important contribution towards improving women's health.
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