Views of health care providers on factors hindering women with obstetric fistula in seeking fistula repair services in Zambia: The case of Muchinga, Luapula, Eastern and Southern provinces

Abstract

Poor use of fistula repair services has contributed to the continued consequences of obstetric fistula that are physical, psychological, social, financial and economic among the afflicted women. The study was designed to assess views of health care providers on factors hindering women with obstetric fistula in seeking fistula repair services. A descriptive cross sectional design was used. Sixty-five (65) health care providers were selected through convenient sampling method to participate in the study. A structured interview schedule was used to collect data. Reliability was ensured using test retest and alpha value of 0.7 for the views scale Statistical analysis was performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software. Data was expressed as descriptive summary measures. Factors found to be hindering women in seeking fistula repair services were lack of knowledge that repair services exist, anxiety, loss of dignity, stigma, transportation challenges, financing for the procedure, myths and misconception on obstetric fistula and health systems barriers. Therefore, there is need to engage the individual, communities, organisations and policy makers in order to improve women's use of fistula repair services.