ASSESSMENT IN SUPPORT OF SAFE MOTHERHOOD SERVICES AIMED AT REDUCING MOTHERS UNPAID WORK HOURS IN BUSIA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The study's general objective was to find innovative strategies for safe motherhood care services to reduce unpaid work hours for mothers in Busia County. Specific objectives are (i) to assess innovative models of economically empowering mothers to reduce unpaid care work (ii) to evaluate innovative antenatal care services (ANC) aimed at reducing unpaid work hours and lastly (ii) to evaluate innovative postnatal care services (PNC) aimed at reducing unpaid work hours to mothers. The study applied a multidisciplinary research agenda and adopted a mixed research method of research design, the research will incorporate two postgraduate students who conducted a baseline survey and procured consent from potential research respondents. Methodology: The targeted population constituted key informants such as Nurses, Community Health Care Workers, and Medical Health Officers. The study conducted a household survey (n=94) to establish the status of unequal distribution of unpaid work among households and innovative approaches to mitigate the same. It achieved a 70% response rate, and out of the targeted purposive sampling random sampling was adopted concurrently in selecting the study households. The findings indicate that the majority of women in Busia County, Teso South sub-county, are engaged in unpaid work hours. Secondly, they concurred that spending a lot of time waiting for service during antenatal and post-natal visits compromised safe motherhood.