Access to maternal reproductive health care services in remote hinterland regions of Guyana
Acesso à serviços de saúde maternal e reprodutiva nas regiões remotas da Guiana
Publication year: 2023
Access to reproductive health care services is critical to the life of a woman, her family, and the society as a whole. Women who live in remote hinterland Regions of Guyana experience many challenges relative to their access to reproductive health care services. This has resulted in higher rates of home deliveries, high maternal mortality rates, and higher teenage pregnancies rates than their counterparts who live in coastal settings. There is still a paucity of literature in Guyana that scientifically explored the critical issues affecting "access of reproductive health care services from the perspective of Indigenous women who live in remote hinterland regions".
Aim:
To identify the challenges to access to Reproductive Health care services from the prospective of women, ages 18 to 49 years who live in remote hinterland regions of Guyana.Methodo:
This study was based on a sample of 85 Indigenous women, age 18 - 49 years who resided in three remote hinterland regions of Guyana. Data was collected by means of an interview schedule. Simple quantitative study analysis - Frequency distribution; Univariate and bivariate analysis; Correlation analysis - Pearson's r correlation (r) was used to determine the challenges in a wide variety of reproductive health care services.Results:
Some reproductive health services were accessed on a sporadic basis by women who live in remote hinterland regions of Guyana.These include:
cervical cancer screening (34%) and 91% never had a breast examination; 60% had no access to family planning and contraceptives within the last 12 months of the study. Further, 92% of respondents had obtained prenatal care at a health facility during their last pregnancy, while only 52% of reported having delivered at the health facilities where they first sought health care services from, and 28% did not have prenatal appointments at a government public health facility. Some of the challenges to access to these reproductive health services (as identified by women) including: Inadequate health facilities to allow for easy access to reproductive health care; Inadequate competent providers to provide skilled midwifery care; Unavailability or lack of consistent supply of equipment and supplies to provide for clinical and laboratory tests; Lack of consistent supply of contraceptives; Poor referral system to allow for the receipt of test results not done in the regions and for timely interventions; and lack of information and counselling services, among others.Conclusion:
Many challenges exist in relation to access to a number of reproductive health care services in remote hinterland regions of Guyana. The identification of these challenges can help to validate what obtains in hinterland regions - relevant to reproductive health care services, and help to form the basis to better inform the provision and strengthening of specific and targeted interventions, policies, and services that are of high quality, and that meets the needs of women who live in remote hinterland regions of the country.
O acesso aos serviços de saúde reprodutiva é fundamental para a vida das mulher, sua família e a sociedade como um todo. As mulheres que vivem em regiões remotas do interior da Guiana enfrentam muitos desafios em relação ao acesso a serviços de saúde reprodutiva. Isso resultou em taxas mais altas de partos domiciliares, altas taxas de mortalidade materna e taxas mais altas de gravidez na adolescência do que entre aquelas que vivem em áreas costeiras. Ainda há uma escassez de literatura na Guiana que explorou cientificamente as questões críticas que afetam o "acesso a serviços de saúde reprodutiva a partir da perspectiva de mulheres indígenas que vivem em regiões remotas do interior".
