Knowledge and utilization of partograph amongst community health workers

Background: Maternal mortality is a worldwide problem and is unacceptably high in developing countries; hence the fifth item on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to reduce maternal deaths by 75% by the year 2015.Methods: Pretested self- administered questionnaires were administered to first year students undergoing the Community Health Officers training programme at the Jos University Teaching Hospital.Results: Only 29 (45.3%) of the respondents had ever heard about the partograph and of these 22 (34.4%) knew it was used for monitoring progress of labour. None of the respondents had been taught about the partograph in their course of schooling. Only thirteen respondents (20.3%) said they knew how to use a partograph, fourteen (21.9%) respondents had ever used a partograph while only ten (15.6%) used partograph in their place of present employment. When asked to demonstrate partograph usage, only two of the students could correctly use a partograph. These two said they had learnt to use the partograph from workshops and step down trainings at their places of work. The challenges to it use included nonavailability and the non-cooperation of other health staff.Conclusion: The theoretical and practical knowledge of these health workers about the partograph and its use is poor. The use of the partograph should be incorporated into the curriculum of all health workers providing services to women in labour at the primary health care level.Keywords: Community health workers, Maternal mortality, Partograph, Utilizatio