Factors contributing to the increased perinatal mortality rate in Limpopo province

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the causes, of the increased perinatal mortality, identify and describe other factors contributing to the increased perinatal mortality rate in a rural healthcare facility situated in Sekhukhune district in Limpopo province, and to formulate the recommendations that will reduce the perinatal mortality rate based on the results. A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional and retrospective design was conducted. The study population was one hundred and sixty two (162) records of babies who died in the perinatal facility from the 1st January 2015 to the 31st December 2015 with a gestational age of about 28 weeks or more. No sampling was done, but a census was used. The sample comprised of one hundred and sixty two (162) of all the records related to perinatal mortality. Data were collected from patients’ records by using a checklist. Analysis of the data was performed by the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 14 computer software. Frequency tables and pie graphs were used to present the data. The results indicated that 75.3% (n=122) of the records were associated with health personnel as a factor contributing to perinatal mortality. Furthermore, preterm cases accounted for 45.1% (n=73) and prematurity accounted for 37.0% (n=60) of the cases of perinatal mortality. Therefore, preterm births and prematurity are risk factors that should be managed immediately after birth, and all babies should be managed prior to being transferred to the other healthcare institutions. The recommendations are that the education of patients about early antenatal visit, signs of labour and danger signs during pregnancy and training of healthcare workers on record-keeping have to be done on a continuous basis. Managers should conduct quality improvement programmes, benchmarking and implement maternal and neonatal guidelines in the clinical area throughout pregnancy.