Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

122 | Maternal Health
Skilled providers are most likely to attend births to young mothers less than age 20 and first-
order births (33 percent and 39 percent, respectively). Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of
births delivered in a health facility are attended by a skilled provider as opposed to births delivered
elsewhere.
Three-fifths of urban births (59 percent) are assisted by skilled providers, compared with 21
percent of births in rural areas. Births in Dili are most likely to be attended by skilled providers (69
percent). Less than 10 percent of births in Oecussi are attended by skilled providers.
Highly educated mothers are most likely to have their births delivered by skilled attendants
(88 percent) as are mothers in the wealthiest households (69 percent).
Less than 2 percent of births are delivered by caesarean section. Not surprisingly all C-section
deliveries take place in health facilities, primarily in urban areas, to highly educated mothers who are
also from wealthy households. Of the districts, C-section deliveries are most common in Dili (5
percent).
10.7 NEWBORN CARE
Women who did not deliver their last-born child in a health facility were asked about the
practice of taking care of newborns, including cord cutting practices, application of materials on the
umbilical cord after cutting, and drying and bathing of newborn children. Women were also asked
about their knowledge of danger signs for a newborn that would prompt mothers to seek immediate
attention.
10.7.1 Knowledge of Danger Signs for Newborns
Skilled care for mothers and their newborns is critical in the first month following delivery.
Timorese mothers were asked to name symptoms indicating the need to seek immediate health care
for an infant within one month of delivery. Table 10.8 shows the percentage of women with a live
birth in the five years preceding the survey who can name various symptoms in a newborn that
indicate the need to seek immediate care.
About three-quarters of mothers mentioned fever as a symptom needing immediate care.
Lesser percentages mentioned poor suckling (35 percent), fast breathing (23 percent), pustules on the
skin (12 percent), infection or discharge around the umbilical cord (11 percent), and severe chest
indrawing (9 percent) as danger signs needing immediate medical attention. As noted with knowledge
of pregnancy danger signs, rural mothers are more likely than urban mothers to mention each of these
danger signs.