Background: Home births are common in resource poor countries and postnatal practices vary from one community to
the other.
Objective: To determine the proportion of home births, reasons for home delivery, and evaluate postnatal practices in
Madagali, north-eastern Nigeria.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 400 women of reproductive age, who had put
to birth in the past 1 year. The study was carried out over a period of 8 weeks from April to June 2010. The multistage
method of sampling was used to select respondents. In the first stage, four of the five health districts were chosen
randomly, namely, Gulak, Madagali, Sukur, and Duhu. The questionnaires were evenly distributed among the four health
districts. In the second stage, from each district, two villages were chosen by simple random sample. In the third stage,
two wards were selected in each village by simple random sampling.
Result: Of the 400 respondents interviewed, 289 (72.2%) were aged between 20 and 39 years, and most, 374 (93.5%)
were married. Only 14 (3.5%) had tertiary education. Most respondents, 224 (56.0%) were farmers and grandmultiparae,
187 (46.7%). A total of 196 (49.0%) women delivered at home, whereas 204 (51.0%) delivered at the hospital. Of the
196 respondents who delivered at home, the bedroom 142 (72.4%), was the preferred place of birth. The most common
reason for home birth was short duration of labor in 71 (36.3%) cases. Delivery was conducted by untrained persons
in 50, (25.4%), whereas 99 (50.8%) and 31 (15.5%) deliveries were supervised by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs)
and Midwives/Nurses, respectively. Postpartum, the majority, 235 (58.7%) respondents used sanitary pads to stanch
lochia, whereas 140 (35%) used rags.
Conclusion: A significant number of births take place in the home and supervised by unskilled persons. Against the
backdrop of poor education and low socio-economic status of respondents, perineal hygiene can be adjudged satisfactory.
There is the need to increase on the number of hospital birth and also trained TBA who conduct most of home deliveries