Mothers’ participation, perceptions and experiences of accessing maternal health care in Uganda:

Abstract

Reducing barriers to accessing maternal healthcare and training health professionals in emergency maternal health care are critical components og improving overall maternal health. This study used a qualitative approach to understand mothers’ participation, perceptions and experiences of accessing maternal health in Uganda, taking a case study of Makindye Division in Kampala and explored the potential of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to improve maternal healthcare. Socio-economic and geographical factors were found to be the primary barriers to accessing maternal healthcare. The findings reveal the important role of CHWs to improving maternal health and health professionals who received CPD training indicated that they were more confluent working as interdisciplinary teams, which is a major obstacle to providing quality maternal healthcare in Uganda. Providing training and resources for CHWs and expanding CPD programs would help to improve the quality of care provided to mothers. CPD can also help to enhance the maternal health education which will encourage mothers to use health facilities.