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Background: Nigerian parturients desire, but experience unsatisfactory pain relief as labour analgesia is underutilised and unpopular among skilled-birth attendants. Objectives: To assess pregnant women's knowledge and willingness to use non-pharmacological labour pain reliefs. Methods: Using a descriptive cross-sectional design, a pre-tested, structured questionnaire was interviewer administered to a convenient sample of 245 prenatal women at a specialist maternity hospital in Enugu. Results: Majority (68.6%) of the women knew, but 31.4% were unaware that non-pharmacological labour pain reliefs exist in the study facility. Only 34.7% were able to identify at least four such methods, 21.2% could elicit two (each) advantages and disadvantages, and 0% to 28.3% had perceived self-efficacy of how to use each method. The leading four methods identified were breathing exercises (51.8%), massage (36.7), position changes (32.2%), and relaxation techniques (26.5%). Majority (59.6%) of the women expressed willingness to use non-pharmacological pain strategies in future labour, which is associated with increased knowledge of the methods, and parity (p<0.001). Conclusion: Pregnant women had limited knowledge of, but majority expressed willingness to use in labour non-pharmacological pain reliefs. Nurses/midwives should give adequate childbirth information and preparation on labour pain reliefs to antenatal women to inform their choices and effective use during labour.

Background: Labour pain is subjective and multifactorial. Methods of pain relief vary among women and across cultures, but this area has been under-researched in south-eastern Nigeria. Aims: To understand women's perspectives of labour pain in order to provide a satisfying birth experience. Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated women's perspectives of labour pain and its control. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 129 women, who had given birth at least once, at two teaching hospitals in Enugu State, Nigeria. Findings: Most respondents (77.5%) rated labour pain as ‘very severe’, and 84.4% felt it should be controlled. Overall, 60.6% had heard about labour pain control and although 46.5% received some form of pain relief in their last labour, only 15.6% had a satisfactory pain relief. Nearly all (95.9%) would choose pain relief in future labour. Increasing parity significantly reduced the desire for labour pain control (P<0.05). Conclusions: Although most women wanted pain relief in labour, they had limited knowledge of possible methods. Midwives should inform women about labour pain relief methods and offer labour pain control as a right.

The potential of antenatal care for reducing maternal morbidity and mortality and improving newborn survival and health is widely acknowledged. The study sought to investigate Health Care Providers knowledge and practice of focused antenatal care in a cottage Hospital Okpatu. Qualitative ethnographical research design was adopted, while in-depth interview guide and observational checklist were the instruments for data collection. Findings revealed poor knowledge of concept, components, timing of visits on focused antenatal care and non compliance with the guidelines for the practice of focused antenatal care, because of health workers lack of knowledge on focused antenatal care. Conclusively, effort to improve antenatal care should address shortage of trained staff through expanding training opportunities. Based on the above, intensive awareness and retraining of health workers and monitoring and supervision of health care providers on evidence based focused antenatal care is recommended for health care providers in the study area. There is need for health care providers to motivate local government authority in the area to supply more equipment to ensure adequacy of resources to deliver quality care. Also, there should be strategies for implementation of existing policy concerning Focused antenatal care in the study area.

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