Cultural malpractices during labor/delivery and associated factors among women who had at least one history of delivery in selected Zones of Amhara region, North West Ethiopia: community based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Every day, at least 810 women die worldwide from the complications of pregnancy and childbirth, 86% of which occurring in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the contributing factors for these problems is cultural malpractices during pregnancy and childbirth. The actual incidence of cultural malpractices in developing countries accounts for about 5–15% of maternal deaths. Thus, understanding the link between cultural affairs and maternal health is critical to saving the lives of women and their babies. Therefore, this research was aimed to assess cultural malpractices during labor and delivery and associated factors among women who had at least one history of delivery in selected Zones of the Amhara region, North West Ethiopia. METHOD: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted on women who had at least one delivery history in Awi, West, and East Gojjam Zones from January 1 to May 30, 2020. The multistage cluster sampling technique was used to select 845 study participants. Data was collected through a pre-tested and structured interview questionnaire, entered and cleaned using EPI info version 7.2, and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was employed to assess the association of the variables and a P-value less than 0.05 was declared as statistically significant. RESULT: Out of 845 women 162(19.2%) practiced nutritional taboo, 77(9.1%) women practiced abdominal massage and 273(32.3%) delivered their babies at home. Educational status of the respondents being un able to read and write (AOR = 14.35,95% CI: 3.12,65.96), husband's educational status (AOR = 3.80,95% CI: 1.24,11.64), residence (AOR = 2.93,95% CI: 1.41: 6.06), ethnicity (AOR = 2.20,95% CI:1.32, 3.67), pregnancy complications (AOR = 1.61,95% CI:1.02, 2.53), gravidity (AOR = 3.54,95% CI:1.38,9.08) and antenatal care follow up (AOR = 2.24, 95% CI:1.18,4.25) had statistically significant association with cultural malpractices during labor and delivery. CONCLUSION: This study showed that cultural malpractices during childbirth were high in Awi, West, and East Gojjam Zones relative to the country's maternal health service utilization plan. Working on antenatal care follow-up and women and husband education in a culturally acceptable manner may reduce cultural malpractices during labor and delivery.