A survey of the knowledge, attitude and practice of the labour partogramme among health personnel in seven peripheral hospitals in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Late referrals of complicated labour cases and prolonged labour contribute a major part in maternal morbidity and mortality. The labour partogramme has been shown to be an effective instrument in the follow-up of labour cases. The referal maternities of Yaounde still receive delayed and poorly managed cases of labour from the peripheral hospitals. The rationale of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of the labour partogramme among the health personnel in the main centers where referrals come from. We interviewed the personnel of those hospitals who accepted to enroll in the study. Students and those who were not willing to participate in the study were excluded, and the study lasted for 3 months from January to March 2006. Our results showed that the personnel had a good knowledge of the labour partogramme, especially (100%) amongst the doctors. They also had a positive attitude towards the labour partogramme. However, the partogramme was not routinely used, with only 50% of the respondents who accepted using it regularly. Most of them blamed the low rate of use to the unavailability of the partogramme. Despite the very good knowledge of the labour partogramme and the positive attitude towards its use, the rate of use still remains very low. We do recommend that the training of the personnel should be more practical and the labour partogramme made available to both private and public hospitals. An audit system should also be put in place to ensure the effective use of the partogramme. KEY WORDS: Partogramme – Labour – Knowledge – Attitude - Practice.