Maternal - Child Health Needs Assessment in Haiti

Maternal and neonatal mortality in Haiti are among the highest in the world. This study investigated maternal-child health needs in Haiti, using a mixed method approach including qualitative and quantitative data collection. Participants (n=119) comprised of 39 healthcare workers and 80 Haitian women. The focus group centered around three major themes: difficult access to healthcare; health issues affecting mothers-child; and healthcare workers training. The interviews revealed that 60% of the deliveries happened at home, 52.5% of them were assisted by a lay birth attendant, 42% of the women gave their newborn a drink other than breast milk within the first week of birth, 70% of the women had not been, or did not know, if they had been tested for HIV, 92% did not use condoms during sexual encounters, and 47.5% justified violence against themselves from their partner. Considering the dearth of research concerning maternal-child health in Haiti that incorporates the opinions of healthcare workers and Haitian women, identifying their needs is essential to developing programs, such as the following that contribute to improving their health: nurse-midwife programs, training for lay birth attendants, obstetric-pediatric training, breastfeeding training, and programs to prevent intimate partner violence and HIV.