A cost-effectiveness study of caesarean-section deliveries by clinical officers, general practitioners and obstetricians in Burkina Faso

Table 1 Profile of caesarean deliveries by type of provider, Burkina Faso, 2004–2005

Type of providers Characteristics	Obstetricians N = 1020*	Trained doctors N = 552*	Clinical officers N = 733*
Place (% within facilities)
National hospitals	53	3	0
Regional hospitals	17	2	41
District hospitals	30	95	59
District hospitals (% rural versus urban)
Urban**	86	5	27
Rural	14	95	73
Mother's age
Median (IQR)	25 (10)	24 (12)	25 (12)
Indication of surgical procedure (%)
Saving mother's life	74	75	81
Saving baby's life	24	21	17
Other	2	4	2
Mothers' reported conditions (%)
Obstructive labour	39	51	53
Ruptured uterus	11	7	11
Eclampsia	7	1	2
Haemorrhage	5	6	6
Other	38	35	28
Type of anaesthesia (%)
General	81	30	59
Spinal anaesthesia	19	70	41
Referral status (%)
Referred from other facilities	85	77	71
Referred by provider to higher level facility	15	23	29
Duration of caesarean-section (minutes)
Mean (SD)	46 (20)	57 (27)	53 (23)
Duration of post operative hospital stay (days)
Mean (SD)	6 (5)	9 (5)	9 (6)
Post operative complications (/000)
Haemorrhage	15	18	20
Wound infection	11	4	14
Wound dehiscence	4	0	1

* Counts were for a complete year at district hospitals.
** Only three districts (all urban) had obstetricians at the time of the survey, and only one (District Secteur 30) was fully functional with regard to obstetric surgery. A quarter of the caesarean delivery case notes were extracted by the data collection team.

ISSN: 1478-4491