Quality of post natal care services provided to mothers living with HIV at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of postnatal care services provided to mothers living with HIV at Mulago Hospital. The objectives of the study were; to assess the perception of HIV+ mothers on accessibility to PNC services, to establish whether mothers living with HIV were satisfied with the PNC services and to determine the effectiveness of PNC services provided to mothers living with HIV at Mulago hospital. The study used a descriptive study design with a quantitative and qualitative approach and it was carried in the Department of Obstetrics and Gyneacology (Wards 5A, 5B and 11). The study population included HIV infected mothers who had given birth at Mulago and were still admitted for observance of the child and the mother before discharge. Through purposive sampling a sample size of 341 women was selected but finally, 331 HIV infected mothers participated in the study. Data was collected using the questionnaires. Tables and charts were used to present the data and a simple chi-square test was used to assess association between the independent variables and the dependant variables. The study findings show that majority of mothers living with HIV received the required attention, were easily seen or attended to by the health provider and the services received by the mothers at Mulago Hospital were satisfactory. The findings of the study further indicate that outreaches as a means of bringing the services nearer to the clients and for making service delivery effective was not emphasized while providing PNC services to mothers living with HIV. It was also found out that there was no relationship between age of an HIV infected mother, her parity and access to PNC services. The study revealed that there was no significant relationship between the age of a woman, parity and her satisfaction with the PNC services provided to HIV positive mothers in Mulago hospital. It is recommended that the required health providers be recruited since there were complaints of delays in service delivery due big numbers of mothers giving birth indicating that there was a big patient-doctor ratio. It is further recommended that outreaches as a way of taking services closer to the people should be emphasized and resources to implement it should be planned for