Mitigating Maternal Mortality Rate Through Social Marketing Practices

Abstract

The mitigation of maternal mortality rate over the years has been a thing of concerned to government, health practitioners, WHO, UNICEF, USAID, the World Bank and other local faith-based organizations in developing nations. The study examined the social marketing factors (product, price and place) as essential health tools in mitigating the maternal mortality rate in developing nations. Desk and phenomenological research designs were used to obtain data for the study. Structure interview was used in collecting data and responses from a sample of 309 pregnant women in private, public and home healthcare facilities. The result evaluation showed a poor utilization of social marketing factors in the implementation of various antenatal services meant to improve maternal mortality rate. The study recommended the incorporation of social marketer and social marketing practices in the implementation of antenatal care services. The sample may not be representative of pregnant women in private, public and home healthcare facilities. Although the sample size is large and appropriate for this kind of descriptive analytic method. To encourage and positively change the behavior of pregnant women toward antenatal care services in mitigating maternal mortality rate in developing nations. This study is one of few that adopts social marketing as a panacea in encouraging private and public hospital antenatal care services rather than homecare health services to pregnant women in mitigating maternal mortality rate in developing nations.