Community motivators promote use of emergency obstetric services in rural Sierra Leone. The Freetown/Makeni PMM Team.

PRELIMINARY STUDIES

An appraisal of government health facilities documented generally poor conditions, a shortage of drugs and supplies, and inadequate skills among staff. Focus group discussions in the community revealed a lack of knowledge about obstetric complications and difficulty in reaching health facilities.

INTERVENTIONS

Improvements were made in services at primary health units (PHUs) through May 1993. Community motivators were trained in June and provided with bicycles and raingear in September 1993. Among their duties were community education, formation of village action groups for emergency transport and facilitation of referral for women with obstetric complications.

RESULTS

Between August 1992 and December 1995, women with major complications seen at the PHUs increased from nine to 16 per month, with fluctuations due to disruptions in services and civil strife. The proportion of women with complications who were referred by the community motivators diminished over time, dropping from 24% to 1% over the first two years (1993-1994) and then recovering somewhat to 10% in the final period of observation.

COSTS

The cost of this intervention was approximately US$5082, with about half coming from the project and the rest from the government (44%) and the community (8%).

CONCLUSIONS

The project improved utilization of the PHUs by women with complications, indicating that once services are of acceptable quality, many women will use them. The contribution of the motivators was positive, though smaller than expected.