An Empirical Study ofCall Centerand Uptake of Maternal Health Servicesof Gombe State, Northeast, Nigeria

Abstract

Call center has potentials to increase utilizationof health facility servicesand thereby improve maternal health outcomes.According to Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2013 puts the proportion of women with antenatal care from a skilled provider at 58.2 percent and facility delivery at 27.6 percent. Society for Family Health in an effort to improve utilization of facility services established call center to enhancethe uptake of facility services in Gombe State. However,little is known about impact of the call center on utilization of facility services. A continuous population household-based multi-stage clustersurvey was instituted in Gombe State from January 2013 –December 2014. The survey was designed to estimate coverage of contacts between residents of sampled households and the different innovations being implemented in maternal life saving interventions.The sample size drawn with replacement per quarter was sufficient to determine the indicators’ performance with high precision. The data were disaggregated by place of residence among women who had a live birth in the 12 months prior survey.In rural areas, proportion of women who had heard about the call center increased from 12%(95% CI, 9-17) in Q1 (January-March 2013) to 26% (95%CI, 19-35) in Q7 (July-September 2014); anddelivered at facilities increased from 15% in Q1to 33% in Q7. In urban areas, women who had heard about call center increased from 15% (95% CI, 11-20) in Q1, 2013 to 41% (95% CI, 31-47) in Q7, 2014; and proportion of women that delivered in facilities increased from 19% in Q1 to 45% in Q7. This performance wassubstantiated by the qualitative study findings, which claimedvirtually all mothers that had contacts with call center utilized facility services. However, concept of “stranger”, poor connectivity, delayed picking, attitude, and confidentiality were challengesnegatively impacted uptake of call center.