Au cours des vingt dernières années, la santé de la reproduction s’est imposée comme une priorité d’action pour le développement des pays du Sud. Au Sénégal, et dans le département de Saint-Louis, d’indiscutables progrès ont été réalisés mais certaines statistiques restent accablantes et les inégalités de santé, loin de se réduire, demeurent et se creusent. Lorsque ces disparités sont appréhendées au prisme du territoire, des configurations particulières se dessinent et font apparaître des fractures spatiales qui dépassent l’opposition classique entre la ville et la campagne. Désormais, certains quartiers et villages partagent de mêmes préoccupations sanitaires, tandis que des localités rurales acquièrent progressivement des équipements et des comportements que l’on réservait autrefois en ville. Comprendre et mesurer les inégalités territoriales de santé de la reproduction pour pouvoir travailler à leur réduction, tel est le sens de cette étude. / For the past twenty years, reproductive health has been a top priority for the developing countries. In Senegal and in The Saint-Louis department, undeniable progress has been achieved but some statistics remain bleak and health inequalities, far from decreasing tend to grow. When we look closer at these disparities over the studied region, one can observe particular configurations with layouts highlighting spatial splits which go beyond the known urban/rural divide. From now on urban areas and villages share the same sanitary concerns, while rural communities gradually acquire equipment and new habits previously reserved for towns. To understand and estimate the territorial reproductive health inequalities in order to get them to decrease, such is the goal of this study.

Text in English, with Annexures in English and Amharic / Annexure 5 and Annexure 7 "Questionnaire for qualitative study" in English and Amharic / The Ministry of Health (MOH) and its partners are determined to prevent and manage preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in mothers, neonates and children. In the last decade, special emphasis has been given to increasing the number of health facilities that provide maternal and child health services (MNCH), huge production of skilled birth attendants (SBAs), and equipping the health facilities to improve the utilisation of quality services. This study investigated the community perspectives of health service utilisation and proposes a framework for improving the utilisation of the available SBA and postnatal care (PNC). PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for the utilisation of skilled care for delivery and postnatal care by women of childbearing age (15-45). METHODOLOGY The study used a Sequential explanatory Mixed Methods Approach to investigate the utilisation of SBA and PNC in a district in Ethiopia. The Delphi Technique helped to solicit input from maternal health care experts on the development of a Framework for utilisation of SBA and PNC. This study utilised the Anderson Health Utilisation Model. RESULTS In the study, 79.8% of the women who delivered within 12 months prior to this study received ANC from SBA. Baby care and PNC for the mother and baby received from SBA were at 248 (71.5%), 55 (15.8%), and 131 (38%) respectively. The study further found that women who can read and write and were educated are more likely to utilise SBA and receive quality health care services. The study showed that certain factors such as disrespecting service users, abusing service users’ lack of trust on the SBA by service users, religion and superstition contribute negatively to the use of SBAs. None of the predisposing, enabling and need factors predicted the use of SBA for PNC by the mothers. Nevertheless, through the focus group discussions (FGDs) and individual interviews (IDI), it was revealed that there was a widespread knowledge and perception gaps in the community related to the importance of postnatal period and PNC. Religious sanctification also have imperative role in hampering PNC service use by the mothers. The Health care workers (HCWs) also lacked the keenness and orientation to provide the service. Babies born from families with monthly income equal to 500 or above USD were more likely to use PNC within 45 days. There was a widespread misconception in the community that Babies do not need PNC before 45 days of birth except for vaccination purpose. CONCLUSION To examine their role in health service utilisation for SBA and PNC, researches can integrate social support and social network to the Andersen’s health-service utilisation model. A framework for utilisation of SBA and PNC is proposed. The researcher recommends developing an utilisation tool kit that specifies the detail operationalisation of the framework. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)