CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF UPTAKE OF SKILLED BIRTH SERVICES IN LURAMBI SUB COUNTY, KENYA - A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY.

Introduction: Ensuring all women give birth with the help of a skilled birth attendant and access to emergency obstetric care is accepted as the most crucial intervention for reducing maternal and newborn deaths.However, this has failed as only 70% of women utilize skilled attendance globally and only 61% in Kenya Objective.To determine the influence of cultural and religious factors on uptake of skilled birth services in Lurambi sub-County. Methods: Cross-sectional study and Quantitative methods were adopted. Carried out in Kakamega County with a Sampling frame consisting of all the 17 government facilities. A multistage stratified sampling strategy was used and Probability sampling technique of systematic sampling method was applied to select women seeking health facility delivery services in Lurambi sub county government facilities (n = 200).Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics, chi-square and logistic regression. Results: Majority of the women were aged 20-35 years (70.5%), 66% were married, 40% had 1-2 children and majority had attained secondary education at 48.5% as the highest educational level. Many were from other ethnic origin at 44.5%, followed by Watsotso at 31.5% and the least population areWaidakho at 24%. Majority of the women were Christians at 97.5% and only 2.5% were Muslims. Majority of the women had ever used family planning methods at 61.5% (123) and only 38.5% (77) had never used family planning method. Families believed that deliveries should be conducted at a health facility at 84% (168), 12% (24) believed that delivery must be conducted in a new homestead and only 2.5% (5) believed that they should never be assisted to deliver by a man. Majority of the women?s culture or religion dictates that delivery be done in a health facility at 97.5% and only 2.5% dictates it to be done at home environment. Women who perceived that health facility delivery was dictated by culture and religion were 60% less likely to receive optimal skilled birth service unlike their colleagues who thought otherwise (OR: 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2- 0.9; p=0.02). Conclusion and Recommendation: Culture and religion are less likely associated with determination of use of skilled birth services. Antenatal clinic uptake interventions should target male partner buy-in and support, healthcare provider training to improve attitudes.