Description of Session
Delays to access health services the major challenge for towards institutional delivery in most isolated villages. Other delays are identified as decision making on accessing health service, distances and infrastructures from community to facilities as well as health services provision at the facility. Ministry of health has set a facility target to reach a certain number monthly facility deliveries from the number of expected pregnant women around catchment areas. Every pregnant woman is supposed to deliver at the facility. For better implementations of maternal and new born health, evidenced based interventions are highly emphasized. USAID Boresha Afya projects has been using GIS and spatial analysis in daily data use approaches to identify and map out the pregnant women attending the clinic and the distance to that nearest health facility. These heat maps assist community health workers to closely follow up making sure all pregnant women are visited and provided health education on the importance of giving birth at the health facility. With the geospatial analysed maps, CHWs and HCWs have been able to notice which places are populated, where are women of reproductive age scattered and hence easy household visits for health education provision and registering and referring of new pregnant women to attend the clinic. Maps created from the layers of population density with expected pregnant women and available services in nearest health facilities gives a strong evidence of unreached women of reproductive ages who have no access to timely services provision hence delays to access the facility during labour and delivery period. And this is crucial in the reduction of home deliveries as well as maternal and new born deaths. CHWs around the highly populated area are provided a household targets for all the pregnant women to be visited or escorted during labour period to avoid delays mentioned.
