Background
Reduction of stillbirth rates is one of the major concerns of the government of
Namibia because of the social and economic implications of stillbirth. Access to
quality antenatal care, especially at primary health care settings, is important in
preventing the risk factors associated with stillbirth. This study assessed the
prevalence of some of the modifiable risk factors to reveal potential gaps in their
prevention.
Aim
To determine the prevalence of modifiable antenatal risk factors associated with
stillbirth in order to determine possible gaps in their prevention.
Setting
The study was conducted at four district hospitals in the Omusati Region, Namibia.
Methods
A descriptive study using recorded antenatal data was used. Data was collected
from the records of 82 women at the time that they had a stillbirth, during the period
October 2013 to December 2014. The assessed risk factors included maternal
characteristics, antenatal care received, medical conditions and obstetric
complications.
Results
The study found that 95.1% of women who had a stillbirth had at least one
modifiable risk factor. The average prevalence of each of the four categories of risk
factors was as follows: quality of antenatal care (19.8%), maternal characteristics
(11.4%), medical conditions (8.9%) and obstetric complications (6.5%). The most prevalent individual risk factors included the following: no folate supplementation
(30.5%), positive HIV status (25.6%), advanced maternal age (20.7%), grand
multigravidity (17.1%), late booking (16.7%), intrauterine foetal growth retardation
(13.4%) and alcohol use (12.5%).
Conclusion
A total of 82.4% of the studied modifiable risk factors were prevalent among women
who had a stillbirth. Risk factors associated with quality of antenatal care were the
most prevalent. While further investigation is needed to determine the causes
behind the most prevalent risk factors, health education on the availability and
benefits of antenatal care, pregnancy timing and pregnancy spacing may contribute
to the reduction of the prevalence of these risk factors.