Assessment of Emergency Obstetric Care Services in Ibadan-Ibarapa Health Zone, Oyo State, Nigeria

Nigeria's high maternal mortality has been attributed to poor utilization of obstetric care services to handle complications of pregnancy and childbirth. But how available are standard emergency obstetric care services? This facility based cross sectional study assessed the availability and accessibility of emergency obstetric care services in Oyo State, Nigeria. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, 61 primary and 10 secondary health care facilities were selected. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from the heads of the maternity units. Spatial mapping of the facilities was also produced. Results showed availability of comprehensive emergency obstetric care (CEmOC) facilities (0-3.9/500,000 population) was adequate, however a gross lack of basic emergency obstetric care (BEmOC) facilities (0-5.4/500,000 population) was observed, where available, they were clustered in the urban settlements. Prompt action needs to be taken to upgrade basic emergency obstetric care facilities accessible to the larger rural population dwellers to improve maternal health indices.