ASSESSING SOCIO-ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF STILLBIRTH IN AKOKO SOUTH-WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ONDO STATE

This study investigated the Social and economic factors causing still birth among women in Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study and the population comprised all women in the local government area from which 210 respondents were randomly selected as sample for the study. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire, with reliability index of 0.75 was used for data collection. With the help of two trained research assistants, the researcher went round to collect the data. The collected data were coded into frequency tables and analysed with simple percentage and chi-square statistics. The findings showed that teenage pregnancy, malnutrition, infections, lack of adequate medical care for pregnant women, and ignorance caused still birth among women in Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State. However, the study also showed that poverty was not a causative factor of still birth in the Local Government Area of the State. Sequel to these findings, it was recommended, among others, that girl child education should be made compulsory throughout the country and that adequate health care be provided for all pregnant women, free of charge, in Nigeria