Exploring Sociocultural Maternal Care Roles of Traditional Birth Attendants in Northern Namibia

Traditional birth attendants (TBAs) provide care that is deeply rooted in the cultural values and beliefs of their communities. Moreover, TBAs play an important role in assisting women during antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum by rendering cultural care. This study examined the sociocultural roles of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in four selected regions of Northern Namibia. An exploratory, descriptive qualitative (EDQ) design was employed. The purposive sampling method was used to select participants for the focus group interviews. Latent content analysis was utilised to analyse data. With the assistance of the relevant traditional and health services authorities in Kavango East, Kavango West, Ohangwena and Zambezi, 14 TBAs participated in the study. The following four themes emerged from the findings, depicting the roles of TBAs: preconception care, antepartum care, intrapartum care, and postpartum care. The sociocultural roles of TBAs include rendering treatment for couples that are struggling to conceive, providing herbal remedies across all stages of pregnancy, caring for pregnant women, assisting with emergency homebirths, as well as managing intrapartum and postpartum-related complications. Some of the TBAs use reeds to cut the umbilical cord and perform minor surgery-related procedures similar to haemorrhoidectomy in their homes, which can cause sepsis and bleeding. Similarities have been noted in the sociocultural roles of TBAs across the regions. The study recommends further research on herbal remedies as assumptions are being made that the medicinal care offered by TBAs speeds up the labour progress. There is a need to explore, filter and regulate the sociocultural roles of TBAs to ensure the practice does not endanger the well-being of the women during antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum and also does not harm the newborn in any way. This study was limited to a few settings, thus reducing the population due to its qualitative nature.