Socio-cultural factors contributing to maternal mortality in Longido District, Arusha City.

Kyungu, Lucy Albert (2023) Socio-cultural factors contributing to maternal mortality in Longido District, Arusha City. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

This study aimed to assess the socio-cultural factors contributing to maternal mortality using the case of Longido district, in the Arusha region. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. Also, the study employed a systematic (pseudo-random) sampling to select a sample size of 380 respondents from the study area. A questionnaire survey, FGD, and key informant interview were used to collect data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used as the data analysis tool. The findings revealed that women are not decision-makers on issues regarding maternal health in their families and community at large, where most of the decisions are influenced by their husbands. In addition, half of the 49% of respondents revealed that men do not provide maximum support to their pregnant wives during pregnancy difficulties, thus why the maternity mortality rate is high. Due to this, the study suggests that effective interventions are needed to encourage men to effectively cooperate with their wives on maternal issues so as to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Tanzania, especially in rural communities like the Maasai in Longido district. Furthermore, the findings noted that women are more active in attending healthcare centers for maternal issues compared to men with reasons that, men are busy with different economic activities. Thus, the study recommends that both government and other stakeholders should work together to raise awareness about maternal health in the community and encourage husbands and the community at large to be fully involved in maternal issues. Key Word: Social-Culture, Maternal, Mortality.

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