Communication For Improved Maternal Healthcare For Women In Informal Urban Settlements Of Kenya

Type Thesis or Dissertation - Master Thesis
Title Communication For Improved Maternal Healthcare For Women In Informal Urban Settlements Of Kenya
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2016
URL http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/97718/Maureen_Communication for Improved​Maternal Healthcare for Women in Informal Urban Settlements of Kenya.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Abstract
According to the African Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya‟s capital informal settlements have a higher maternal mortality rate (706 deaths per 100,000 live births) compared to the countries capital, which is at 510 per 100,000 live births. This research borrows a leaf from countries like Sweden that managed to reduce their maternal mortality due to increase in knowledge on maternal health issues. Therefore, the study looks at human centred communication as a strategy to reduce maternal deaths in the informal urban settlements in Kenya. Human centred design takes into account the realities of women‟s lives thus when incorporated into the communication strategies will empower, inform and motivate women to use the services available in the health care sector. Qualitative research methods were employed in this study. In-depth face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions were used to establish the current sources of maternal health information used by women in the informal urban settlements and the efficiency of these sources. The study also sought to determine the social networks used by the women, when and how they are used and how best they can be used to effectively design maternal health information for women in the informal urban settlement. The study revealed that women in informal urban settlements sought maternal health information from health workers, informal and mass media sources. The efficiency of the sources of maternal health information was affected by age difference and level of education of the mothers. Additionally, cultural and language barriers were further identified as bottlenecks of information dissemination and seeking. The study further revealed that social networks such as mobile phones, radios and televisions could be used to disseminate maternal health information to women in the informal urban settlement.

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