Assessing the Nature of Patronage for Traditional Maternal Health Care Services in Southwestern Nigeria

Background: The study assessed the nature of patronage for traditional maternal health care services in Southwestern Nigeria. These were in view of providing information on the nature of patronage of traditional maternal health care services (TMHCs) in Nigeria, thus assisting in meeting the 2030 target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Methods: The study adopted a descriptive research design method approach. The study population was comprised of all pregnant women and nursing mothers attending TMHCs in Southwestern. The sample size consisted of 1020 pregnant women and nursing mothers. A self-designed questionnaire was used to gather information from the respondents. Data collected were analysed using frequency count, percentage, mean, standard deviation and ANOVA. Results: It showed that respondents patronized centre owned by a tradition and culture 351(41.1%), respondents attended their preferred TMHCs on Wednesdays (738), and respondents were introduced to using TMHCs by their in-laws, religious leaders and friends, respectively. However, a large number of the respondents agreed that they use TMHCs because of the passionate care shown towards them (28.9%), spiritual reasons (26.6%), belief in the efficacy of service (30.2%), accessibility (29.7%) and offer of good and quality service (31.2%). Also, the study shows that there is a significant influence of the husband's age (df=3,870, F=5.909, p<0.05), husband's income (df=4,869, F=3.747, p<0.05) and husband's education level (df=3,870, F=64.70, p<0.05) on the reasons for patronizing TMHCs in the study area. Conclusion: The study concluded that nature patronage is a contributing factor to the high usage of TMHCs, which encourages maternal mortality in Nigeria. Article visualizations: