Summary:
In Bangladesh majority of deliveries are attended by
unskilled traditional birth attendants and maternal mortality
is still quite high. Global evidence suggests that most critical
intervention for reduction of maternal mortality is to ensure
skilled attendance at birth.
The objective of this study was to explore the effect of
strengthening obstetric care services through implementation
of skilled Midwives at selected urban centres in terms of
utilization of antenatal and delivery care in the community.
A quasi experimental community trial was conducted during
January 2000 to June 2003. Ten health centers were selected
from the maternity care centers of urban primary health
care project in Dhaka city, matched into comparable pair
and assigned randomly as intervention and control centers.
The intervention consisted of deployment of 10 skilled
midwives in pair to provide obstetric care services in five
intervention centre and the community. Essential drugs and