Beyond Barriers: Factors Affecting Facility-Based Childbirth Among B'laan Parturients

Introduction: The World Health Organization stated in the fact sheet published online that Maternal Mortality is unacceptably high and around 800 women die from pregnancy or childbirth related complications around the world every day. In the Philippines reported high rates were associated with poor birthing practice, including home births without the attendance of skilled health professional and no adequate and quality prenatal care. With this, the researcher was determined to explore how the geographical setting, cultural practices and beliefs affects the Facility-based childbirth likelihood of B’laan tribe in Norala, South Cotabato, Philippines. Methodology: This study used exploratory research method. For quantitative approach, a self-made validated survey questionnaire was utilized composed of two parts: Part I, Demographic Profile; Part II, Factors affecting Facility-based Childbirth likelihood of B’laan Parturients. A Focus Group Discussion was conducted for qualitative approach, a validated guide questionnaire was used to gain more insights on the effects of geographical setting, cultural practices and beliefs. The 30 randomly chosen participants in the study were the married or unmarried B’laan women who submitted for prenatal check-up from March 2019 to March 2020 of the identified locale of the study and 9 participants for the Focus Group Discussion three from each Barangay – Tinago, Puti, and San Miguel.