Browsing by Author "Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe"

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    Assessment of the Quality of Antenatal and Postnatal Care Services in Primary Health Centres in Rural Nigeria
    (THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, 2020-11) Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe; Yaya, Sanni; Omorodion, Blessing
    Maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria is estimated to be 512 deaths per 100,000 live births. As with other low-income countries, a higher proportion of these deaths occur among women living in rural areas and in poor communities where access to maternal health care is limited by several barriers including quality of care in health facilities. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of antenatal and postnatal care in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in two rural Local Government Areas of Edo State in Southern Nigeria. The data were obtained from exit interviews with 177 women after completion of antenatal and postnatal care in eight randomly selected PHCs. The interview questionnaire was adapted from the 2017 results-based financing exit interviews conducted by the World Bank in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Bureau of Statistics. It consisted of questions on the treatment received by women. The data were analysed with descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The results showed the self-reporting by women of sub-optimal offerings of 20 signal antenatal treatments and 8 signal postnatal care treatments. Close to half (45.6%) of the respondents for antenatal care reported receiving sub-optimal antenatal treatments compared to about a third of postnatal care attendees. The predictors of sub-optimal offerings of standard PHC care included local government area, marital status and previous childbirths. We conclude that concerted actions by health providers and policymakers in the PHCs to develop policies and interventions will improve the quality of delivery of antenatal and postnatal services in rural PHCs in Nigeria.
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    Bibliometric profile of the African Academy of Sciences medical and health sciences fellows
    (Pan Africa Medical Journal, 2021-01-19) Balogun, Joseph; Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe; Balogun, Adetutu
    The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is the preeminent science academy on the African continent, but there is currently no information on the academic productivity of the fellowship members. This study investigated the bibliometric parameters of the AAS medical and health sciences fellows. The demographic information (year of induction, gender, and region of employment in Africa) of the 80 medical and health sciences fellows were obtained from the AAS website. Subsequently, the bibliometric information (total number of publications, H-index scores, citation, and co-authorship counts) were extracted from the Scopus database. The majority of the fellows were from the East (36%) and West (33%) African regions (χ² = p < 0.001); the North (6%) and Central (4%) regions were vastly underrepresented. Although only 34% of the AAS fellows were women, there was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) in the bibliometric parameters of both genders. The year of induction as a fellow and region of employment in Africa significantly (p < 0.05) influenced the bibliometric parameters. For all the fellows combined, their H-index mean (SD) score is 27.9 (17.0), while the median score for the total number of publications is 100, H-index is 27.5, and the citation and co-authorship count is 2,894 and 446, respectively. The fellows from the West African region had the highest number of publications (Mean = 212), citations (Mean = 9,437), and co-authorship count (Mean = 975), and the South African fellows had the highest H-index score (Mean = 40.8). The data presented provide insight into the bibliometric productivity of African scientists compared with their peers from other science academies around the world. Similarly, the data may assist burgeoning scientists aspiring to be AAS fellow set realistic goals toward achieving the stipulated H-index benchmarks.
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    Effects of health education on spousal knowledge and participation in birth preparedness in Farafenni Regional Hospital, The Gambia: a randomized trial
    (BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2021-02-12) Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe; Tunkara- Bah, Haddy; Adeyemo, Florence O.
    Background The Gambia is a male-dominant society in which the cultural norms empower husbands to decide when and where their wives seek care, yet they are not always involved in maternal health care services. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design and measure the effects of antenatal health education on spousal participation in birth preparedness in Farafenni and satellite villages. Methods The study used a quasi-experimental design, and the participants were 300 spouses of pregnant women attending their antenatal care booking at Farafenni Hospital. A multistage sampling method was used to select the study participants who were then equally distributed to the intervention and comparison groups. Pre-test data were collected from both groups. Thereafter, the intervention group was exposed to two health education sessions on obstetric danger signs and birth preparedness. The post-test data were collected immediately before discharge of the participants’ wives after institutional delivery or within 2 weeks post-delivery for those who did not accompany their wives to the health care institution, or whose wives delivered at home. IBM SPSS version 21 software was used to analyze the data. Results The differences between the demographic characteristics of participants in the intervention and comparison groups were not statistically significant except for the highest level of education achieved. After controlling for the demographic variables, the health education administered to the intervention group effectively increased knowledge on birth preparedness among them (F (1, 255) = 376.108, p < .001). Every unit increase in the intervention led to a unit increase in the spouses’ knowledge on birth preparedness (β = 0.789, p <  0.001). Furthermore, the participants in the intervention group had higher mean score (M = 4.4; SD = 0.8) on participation in birth preparedness than those in the comparison group (M = 0.9; SD = 0.8). The spouses in the intervention group were four times more likely to be prepared for the delivery of their wives after being exposed to the health education than those in the comparison group (F (1, 255) = 522.414, p < .001). Conclusion The study provides evidence that educating men on maternal health care can improve their level of participation in birth preparedness.
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    “We have either obsolete knowledge, obsolete equipment or obsolete skills”: policy-makers and clinical managers’ views on maternal health delivery in rural Nigeria
    (BMJ, 2021-08-03) Udenigwe, Ogochukwu; Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe; Imongan, Wilson
    Objective: The objective of this paper is to explore policy-makers and clinical managers' views on maternal health service delivery in rural Nigeria. Design: This is a qualitative study using key informant interviews. Participants' responses were audio recorded and reflective field notes supplemented the transcripts. Data were further analysed with a deductive approach whereby themes were organised based on existing literature and theories on service delivery. Setting: The study was set in Esan South East (ESE) and Etsako East (ETE), two mainly rural local government areas of Edo state, Nigeria. Participants: The study participants consisted of 13 key informants who are policy-makers and clinical managers in ESE and ETE in Edo state. Key informants were chosen using a purposeful criterion sampling technique whereby participants were identified because they meet or exceed a specific criterion related to the subject matter. Results: Respondents generally depicted maternal care services in primary healthcare centres as inaccessible due to undue barriers of cost and geographic location but deemed it acceptable to women. Respondents' notion of quality of service delivery encompassed factors such as patient-provider relationships, hygienic conditions of primary healthcare centres, availability of skilled healthcare staff and infrastructural constraints. Conclusion: This study revealed that while some key aspects of service delivery are inadequate in rural primary healthcare centres, there are promising policy reforms underway to address some of the issues. It is important that health officials advocate for strong policies and implementation strategies.
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    Why women utilize traditional rather than skilled birth attendants for maternity care in rural Nigeria: Implications for policies and programs
    (Elsevier Ltd., 2021-09-26) Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe; Ntoimo, Lorretta Favour Chizomam; Solanke, Tosin Ojuolape
    Objective: Data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey indicate that many pregnant women in rural Nigeria use traditional birth attendants (TBAs) rather than skilled birth attendants (SBAs) for maternal health care. This is one factor that accounts for the persistently high rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to identify the pervading reasons that women use TBAs for pregnancy care in rural Nigeria and to make recommendations for policy and programmatic reform. Design: Qualitative research design consisting of focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and commu nity conversations, followed by inductive thematic analysis. Setting: Twenty rural communities (villages) in Etsako East, and Esan South East Local Government Areas of Edo State, South-South, Nigeria. Participants: Twenty focus group discussions with men and women in a marital union; 15 key informant inter views with policymakers, senior health providers, and women leaders; and 10 community conversations with key community leaders. Findings: Some reasons proffered for using TBAs included perceptions of higher efficacy of traditional medicines; age-long cultural practices; ease of access to TBAs as compared to SBAs; higher costs of services in health facilities; and friendly attitude of TBAs. Key conclusions and implications for practice: The continued use of TBA is a major challenge in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 in Nigeria. We conclude that efforts to address the factors identified by community stakeholders as inhibiting the use of SBAs will promote skilled birth attendance and reduce maternal mortality in rural Nigeria
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    Women empowerment: A new agenda for socio-economic development in Saudi Arabia
    (African Journal of Reproductive Health, 2021-03) Okonofua, Friday Ehbodaghe; Omonkhua, Akhere
    Over the years, it has been recognized that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), an oil-rich country with a population of 34.3 million people, has had relatively insidious laws and practices relating to women, in part due to the strict application of the Sharia law. The 2016 World Economic Forum ranked Saudi Arabia 141st out of 144 countries in terms of gender parity, and indeed, women were only allowed to vote in the Kingdom in 2015. However, since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came into office in 2017, a series of positive reforms relating to women development began to surface in the Kingdom. Most noteworthy of these reforms is the enunciation of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform program, a major part of which was devoted to increasing women’s participation in economic activities. In consequence, several women empowerment measures were put in place, including those that relate to increased job mobility for women, prevention of sexual harassment in workplaces, pension reforms, and the enunciation of workplace rights. Within three years of the emergence of gender transformative political re-positioning in Saudi, it is gratifying to note that the World Bank ranked the country in 2020 as a top reformer in women’s rights at work