BIRTH PREPAREDNESS AND COMPLICATION READINESS OF WOMEN IN NIGERIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
Introduction Globally, efforts are being made to reduce the menace of maternal death in order to achieve the sustainable development goal. Maternal death has been associated with inadequate birth preparedness and complication readiness especially in the low and middle income countries. Therefore, this review assessed birth preparedness and complication readiness in Nigeria. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis of published research articles on birth preparedness and complication readiness in Nigeria was done using PubMed, EMBASE and MEDLINE databases. All published articles from inception to November, 2018 were included in the review. A total of 8913 published articles were identified from electronic search, a total of 4440 studies were included in this review, while only 12 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Results The pooled prevalence of Good BPCR for all studies yielded an estimate of 58.7% (95% CI 43.9 to 72.7%). The I2 statistic was 98%, indicating statistically significant heterogeneity among the studies. The percentage of women with good birth preparedness and complication readiness increases with increasing year of publication, such that women tended to be more aware good birth preparedness and complication readiness in recent years. More than half of the women had knowledge of obstetric danger signs (52.0%, 95% CI 39.5 to 64.4%, 10 studies), arranged for transportation (59.5%, 95% CI 36.2 to 80.7, 11 studies) or saved money (63.4%, 95% CI 44.7 to 80.2%, 11 studies) as part of the BPCR. Conclusion Women in Nigeria are better prepared for birth preparedness and complication readiness in recent years. Therefore, interventions to promote more adequate birth preparedness and complication readiness among women is recommended.