Quality of Maternity Care at Health Facilities in Eritrea in 2008

Objective: To examine the quality of maternal health services at health facilities in Eritrea. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional survey of all hospitals and health centers and a random sample of a third of health stations. Extensive interviews with health providers and facility managers were undertaken using structured questionaires. Findings: The key findings of the study include: All hospitals and all health centers provided Basic Obstetric Emergency Care. However, only 11 of the 18 hospitals provided Comprehensive Obstetric Emergency Care including caesarian section. The national referral hospital treated 54 percent of obstetric complications, while health centers and health stations are not proportionally sharing the burden of work. Recommendations: Eritrean health system which was performing well with the current demand for services can improve its outputs. Upgrading of the function of existing facilities by strengthening the human resource capacity is needed to increase availability of emergency obstetric care by more than one third, using the existing physical structure of health facilities.