Thesis:

Factors linked to low birth weight among women who gave birth at Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Kamenge, Bujumbura province, Burundi.

Low birth weights among women who gave birth continue to be a significant global concern. The factors contributing to low birth weight at Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Kamenge in Bujumbura were not perfectly identified, despite the assessment of some common risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes in postpartum women and their fetuses. This case-control study took place at the Maternity of the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Kamenge (Hôpital Roi Khaled) in Bujumbura, focusing on the medical records of mothers who had given birth at any age and key informants as gynecologist, clinician and women after delivery before their discharge to interview on health system factors. The study aimed to establish the prevalence and determinants of low birth weight, employing both qualitative and quantitative indicators in the data collection process. We used a systematic sampling technique. The study medical records were randomly chosen, while the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Kamenge in Bujumbura and key informants were purposefully chosen. The study location had a total of 43 cases and 85 controls, and a principal investigator used a data abstraction form to collect the data from medical records. To gather more information, key informant was interviewed using Key Informant Interview Guide. Graphs, logistic regression analysis and cross tabulations were used to illustrate the data, and the odd ratio was used to analyze the relationship between the variables. Thematic analysis was performed on qualitative data. The qualitative data explained, interpreted and supplemented the quantitative data. The findings indicated a statistically significant relationship between LBW and woman’s occupation (OR: 0.0481; 95% CI: 0.0047-0.4947), having medical chronic condition such as Diabetes mellitus, Hypertension, HIV/SIDA and cardiac disease (OR: 0.4492; 95% CI: 0.2214-0.9112), exposure to multiple pregnancy, abnormal uterus and oligohydramnios/polyhydramnios (OR: 0.6448; 95% CL: 0.4306-0.9656). The research concludes that the occurrence of LBW among new born babies is influenced by woman’s occupation, medical chronic conditions and exposure to multiple pregnancy, abnormal uterus and amniotic liquid such as oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios. The study recommends the General Director of CHUK through MoH to strengthen the efforts towards improving the conditions in workplace, preventive measures against chronic diseases and regularly consult antenatal care for pregnancy monitoring. The research findings are expected to be useful to the nutrition services planners, healthcare professionals, and politic leaders to assist them in creating pertinent policies, briefs, initiatives, and interventions with the goal of reducing the magnitude of occurrence of underweight babies. Key words: Low birth weight, CHUK and women after delivery