Factors Influence Omani Women’s Utilization of Postnatal Care Services

Abstract

Oman is one of the countries that achieved a dramatic reduction in maternal and new-born deaths since 1970. One of the strategies that Oman has adopted to reach this achievement is providing free of cost postnatal care services for all Omani women. This includes two visits to primary health care institutions in the weeks two and six postpartum. However, my field observation during my work in different perinatal care clinics in the last two years revealed that many mothers tend to not attend these visits. This study is a cross sectional qualitative study which aimed to explore factors influence women’s utilization of postnatal care services in Oman. Two health care institutions in a city called Nizwa which provide primary care services were included in this study. They are Nizwa Polyclinic and Firq Health Centre. Total of twelve participants were interviewed in depth to collect the data. Keywords: Maternal deaths, new-born deaths, postnatal care, postpartum, utilization of postnatal care services.