Family planning services provided by healthcare providers in the Bamenda Health District Cameroon

Family planning is one of the ways through which maternal deaths can be reduced. Studies have shown that up to 40% of maternal deaths could have been averted through the use of family planning services. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the available family planning services offered to the population of the Bamenda Health District by health care providers. Method: A multistage cross-sectional, descriptive study design was used where data was collected at a point in time. The study population constituted all health workers (Nurses and midwives), randomly selected from the Bamenda Health District. Data were collected from randomly selected health facilities from the 13 health areas of the Bamenda Health Districts with the use of a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Result: The result showed that only 36.4% of respondents offer all the aspects of family planning. Based on the types of family planning services available, there were three aspects of family planning services they know: Contraceptive services (27.1%), pregnancy Testing and Counselling (6.4%), and Sexually Transmitted Disease services (3.6%). The most used services by clients were the provision of contraceptives (48.6%) and premarital counseling/preconception care (31.4%). Family planning services least used by clients were sexual and reproductive health education (21.4%), sex determination (27.9%), and breast/cervical cancer screening (7.1%). Success has been made in FP such as reduced unwanted pregnancy and abortion (69.3%) and greater spacing between births, reducing the risk of infant and child mortality (10%). Conclusion: all health centers and hospitals, should consider all aspects of family planning services as an integral part of maternal and child health with Primary Health Care services at all levels to ensure the provision of complete Family Planning services. This will improve the uptake of family planning services by the population

Challenges to implementing a National Health Information System in Cameroon: perspectives of stakeholders

In the early 90s, the Cameroon Ministry of Health implemented a National Health Information System (NHIS) based on a bottom- up approach of manually collecting and reporting health data. Little is known about the implementation and functioning of the NHIS. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of the NHIS by documenting experiences of individual stakeholders, and to suggest recommendations for improvement. We reviewed relevant documents and conducted face-to-face interviews (N=4) with individuals directly involved with data gathering, reporting and storage. Content analysis was used to analyze textual data. We found a stalled and inefficient NHIS characterized by general lack of personnel, a labor-intensive process, delay in reporting data, much reliance on field staff, and lack of incentives. A move to an electronic health information system without involving all stakeholders and adequately addressing the issues plaguing the current system is premature