This study compares qualities of maternal care services in modern and traditional birthing facilities in Osun State, Nigeria. This study adopted descriptive design, using skilled and unskilled birth attendants across healthcare centers and traditional birthing centers such as religious homes in selected Local Government Area in Osun-State. The study adopted multistage sampling techniques to select 45 skilled birth attendants and 45 Traditional birth attendants. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire and observational checklist. Data obtained from the study was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 25. Descriptive statistics such as frequency table, charts and percentages was used to provide answers to research objectives. Findings shows a significant percentages of participants from both modern (57.6%) and traditional birthing facilities (71.1%) were 45 –64 years. Also 57.8% had been in services for 11 – 20 years from modern facilities, while for traditional facilities, 62.2% had been in service for 1-10 years. More findings revealed that, majority (85.2%) of modern health facilities have birth attendants with required competencies, compare with 31.1% from traditional birthing centers who have required competencies. Also, majority (64.8%) of modern healthcare facilities have adequate equipment required to ensure safe delivery and post-delivery, compares to traditional birthing facilities with just 5.2% required equipment for safe delivery and post-delivery. More so, majority (89.7%) of modern health facilities had satisfactory birth preparation compare to traditional birthing facilities, where only a few (21.2%) had satisfactory. This study concluded that, maternal care services in modern healthcare facilities are much better and safer compare to the traditional birthing facilities. Therefore, it is recommended that, Government through the ministry of health need to organize routine and strategic training for traditional birth attendants towards improving maternal service delivery in the State.
Keywords: Comparative Analysis, Quality, birthing facilities, care services
