Maternal health services expectation and experience in rural communities of Bauchi state, Nigeria

Abstract

Healthcare and other services are the functional pre-requisite for healthier maternal process. In the past decades there was a dramatic improvement in the access and utilization of basic services, especially among mothers, owing to improved maternal health. Still, there was a challenge of limited access to service among rural mothers. This paper looks into this challenge using survey method. The findings reveal that majority of the pregnant women in rural areas experienced low access and utilization of maternal healthcare, especially antenatal and postnatal care from medical doctors. As well as poor transportation system, lack of access to health information and other essential services. A situation that negatively affected maternal health. The paper recommends for new strategies that will naturally address some of the factors depriving those mothers from accessing the services. Such as training and recruiting of new healthcare providers, especially medical Doctors.