Childbirth in a rural highlands community in Papua New Guinea: a descriptive study

Abstract

Objectives: to explore men's and women's experiences, beliefs and practices surrounding childbirth in a rural highlands community in Papua New Guinea.

Design: a qualitative study comprising focus group discussions, key informant and in depth interviews.

Setting: the study was undertaken in a rural community in Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

Participants: 51 women and 26 men participated in 11 focus group discussions. Key informant and in depth interviews were undertaken with 21 women and five men.

Findings: both women and men recognised the importance of health facility births, linking village births with maternal and newborn deaths. Despite this, many women chose to give birth in the community in circumstances influenced by cultural and customary beliefs and practices. Women giving birth in the community frequently gave birth in an isolated location. Traditional beliefs surrounding reasons for difficult births, including spiritual beliefs were reported along with the use of traditional methods used to help prolonged and difficult births.

Conclusions: while the importance of health facility births is recognised in this rural community many women continue to give birth in the village. Identifying and understanding local customs, beliefs and practices, particularly those that may be harmful to women and their newborn infants, is critical to the development of locally-appropriate community-based strategies for improving maternal and infant health in rural communities in PNG and other resource-limited, high burden settings.

Keywords: Birth huts; Cultural beliefs; Cultural practices; Isolation; Papua New Guinea; Village birth.