Delivery Practices of Traditional Birth Attendants

This paper describes associations among delivery-location, training of birth attendants, birthing practices, and early postpartum morbidity in women in slum areas of Dhaka, Bangladesh. During November 1993– May 1995, data on delivery-location, training of birth attendants, birthing practices, delivery-related com-plications, and postpartum morbidity were collected through interviews with 1,506 women, 489 home-based birth attendants, and audits in 20 facilities where the women from this study gave birth. Associations among maternal characteristics, birth practices, delivery-location, and early postpartum morbidity were specifically explored. Self-reported postpartum morbidity was associated with maternal characteristics, de-livery-related complications, and some birthing practices. Dais with more experience were more likely to use potentially-harmful birthing practices which increased the risk of postpartum morbidity among women with births at home. Postpartum morbidity did not differ by birth-location. Safe motherhood pro-grammes must develop effective strategies to discourage potentially-harmful home-based delivery practices demonstrated to contribute to morbidity