[Study of the contributing factors to home delivery (Senegal)]

In Senegal, 38% of deliveries occur at home. We believe that preparation for childbirth, informing women about the place of birth and the person who will assist in delivery, and the necessity of saving money in case of complications, can reduce deliveries at home. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of preparation for delivery on place of delivery in Senegal. Matching was done on the preparation for delivery by the propensity score using the R package Matchit. A conditional logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between preparation for birth and place of birth. The data were collected in 2006 from a sample of 3,093 women aged 15 to 49 years, mothers of children from 0 to 23 months in 5 regions of Senegal. The average age of women was 26.3 years (±6.6). The prevalence of delivery at home was 0.33 and 0.31 were given a preparation for childbirth. The following factors were associated with childbirth at home: preparing for the birth (OR: 0.36, CI 95%: [0.28-0.45]), at least primary school (OR: 0.59, CI 95%: [0.46-0.74]), number of prenatal care >3 (OR: 0.40, CI 95%: [0.29-0.54]) and early prenatal care (OR: 0.69 [0.51-0.83]). The relation with the profession of the person who performed the prenatal consultation was of borderline significance (P = 0.06). Particular emphasis should be placed on the preparation of delivery, especially during prenatal consultations.