A study on the influence of sociocultural determinants on utilization of skilled delivery services by Maasai women in Kiekonyokie sub location of Kajiado County in Kenya

Maternal health is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, is central to poverty reduction and overall development efforts and it increased international attention for monitoring progress on maternal health and improving access to skilled attendants at deliveries. In Kenya, 44 percent of births are delivered under the supervision of a health professional, mainly a nurse or midwife. Traditional birth attendants continue to play a vital role in delivery, assisting with 28 percent of births. This research paper aimed to study the influence of socio cultural determinants on the utilization of skilled delivery services by Maasai women, the study population belonging to a community of nomadic life style in North of Kajiado County in Kenya population. The study design was a cross sectional descriptive study adopting both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The sample size was 264 women of reproductive age obtained by using Fisher et al . formula when the population is more than 10,000.The quantitative data has been analyzed using (SPSS) version 17.0 while the qualitative data was analyzed by summarizing of the themes. Results show that in Kajiado, preparation of the expectant mother for delivery did not have a statistical significant (p - 0.046).The traditional rite of passage practices had no statistical significance (p - 0.190) as indicated by the following findings, 38% of those who utilized the hospital were Christians while 11% were non - Christians. The study also indicated that husbands made most of the decisions (40.2%) on the place of delivery for the expectant mothers whereas as the relatives, made the least decisions 5.7%. Christian religion was 75% in the population when put together and had a statistical significant, ( p <0.001), in the Kajiado study.