Although 97.9% of women expressed a desire for family-planning counseling before discharge from the postpartum ward, only 6.0% of women received such counseling. Most women wanted to space or limit their pregnancies; 79.8% of women, including those with only 1 child, wanted to choose a contraceptive method before discharge. Providers expressed concern for the volume of induced abortions and maternal deaths within the hospital, which many felt could be averted by improving postpartum family planning.
Investigates Haitian women''s most pressing health needs, barriers to meeting those needs and proposed solutions. The impetus for the study was to get community input into the development of a Family Health Centre in Leogane, Haiti.