Abstract:
Background: Maternal health care provision remains a major challenge in developing countries. There is
agreement that the provision of quality clinical services is essential if high rates of maternal death are to be
reduced. However, despite efforts to improve access to these services, a high number of women in Tanzania do
not access them. The aim of this study is to explore women’s views about the maternal health services
(pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum period) that they received at health facilities in order to identify gaps in
service provision that may lead to low-quality maternal care and increased risks associated with maternal
morbidity and mortality in rural Tanzania.
Design: We gathered qualitative data from 15 focus group discussions with women attending a health facility
after child birth and transcribed it verbatim. Qualitative content analysis was used for analysis.
Results: ‘Three categories emerged that reflected women’s perceptions of maternal health care services:
‘‘mothers perceive that maternal health services are beneficial,’’ ‘‘barriers to accessing maternal health
services’’ such as availability and use of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and the long distances between
some villages, and ‘‘ambivalence regarding the quality of maternal health services’’ reflecting that women had
both positive and negative perceptions in relation to quality of health care services offered’.
Conclusions: Mothers perceived that maternal health care services are beneficial during pregnancy and
delivery, but their awareness of postpartum complications and the role of medical services during that stage
were poor. The study revealed an ambivalence regarding the perceived quality of health care services offered,
partly due to shortages of material resources. Barriers to accessing maternal health care services, such as the
cost of transport and the use of TBAs, were also shown. These findings call for improvement on the services
provided. Improvements should address, accessibility of services, professionals’ attitudes and stronger promotion
of the importance of postpartum check-ups, both among health care professionals and women.
