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 | Algeria |
| Angola |
| Benin |
| Botswana |
| Burkina Faso |
| Burundi |
| Cameroon |
| Cape Verde |
| Central African Rep |
| Chad |
| Comoros |
| Congo |
| Côte d’Ivoire |
| Djibouti |
| DRC |
| Egypt |
| Equatorial Guinea |
| Eritrea |
| Eswatini |
| Ethiopia |
| Gabon |
| Gambia |
| Ghana |
| Guinea |
| Guinea-Bissau |
| Kenya |
| Lesotho |
| Liberia |
| Libya |
| Madagascar |
| Malawi |
| Mali |
| Mauritania |
| Mauritius |
| Morocco |
| Mozambique |
| Namibia |
| Niger |
| Nigeria |
| Rwanda |
| SADR |
| São Tomé and Príncipe |
| Senegal |
| Seychelles |
| Sierra Leone |
| Somalia |
| South Africa |
| South Sudan |
| Sudan |
| Tanzania |
| Togo |
| Tunisia |
| Uganda |
| Zambia |
| Zimbabwe |
| Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health |
| Adolescent Fertility Rate |
| Births Attended by Skilled Personnel |
| Contraceptive Prevalence |
| Infant Mortality Rate |
| DPT3 Immunization Coverage in Children |
| Maternal Mortality Ratio |
| Neonatal Mortality Rate |
| Pregnant Women with 4 ANC Visits |
| Stunting Under 5 yrs |
| Under-5 Mortality Rate |
| Unmet Need for Family Planning |
| Women Who Received Post-partum Care |
| HIV and AIDS |
| Adults Tested for HIV and Know Status |
| HIV Knowledge (Men aged 15-24 yrs) |
| HIV Knowledge (Women aged 15-24 yrs) |
| HIV Patients Receiving Anti-retroviral Drugs |
| HIV Positive Pregnant Women who Receive Antiretrovirals |
| HIV and TB Treatment |
| HIV Prevalence (Females 15-24 yrs) |
| Pregnant Women Tested for HIV and Know Status |
| School Attendance of Orphans |
| Condom Use |
| Malaria and Tuberculosis |
| Malaria Incidence |
| Malaria Deaths |
| Pregnant Women who Received 3 Doses of IPT |
| Under 5s Treated with Anti-Malarial Drugs |
| Under 5s who Slept Under ITN |
| Under 5s with Fever in Last 2 Weeks Screened for Malaria |
| TB Case Detection Rate |
| TB Treatment Success Rate |
| Health Finance |
| General Gov Exp on Health as % of GGE |
| Out of Pocket Health Expenditure |
| Per Capita Public Funds for Health |
| Full Name: | Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel |
| Full Unit: | Percentage (%) |
| Year-range of Data: | 2003 - 2015 |
| Source: | Millennium Development Goals Indicators |
| Link : | http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Data.aspx |
| Date Source Published: | 9th July 2015 |
| Date Source Accessed: | 4th January 2016 |
 | The following countries had no data: |
This indicator shows the percentage of births that take place in the presence of a skilled healthcare worker who is qualified to attend to births. The definition of a skilled birth attendant is an accredited health professional – such as a midwife, nurse or doctor – who has the necessary skills needed to manage normal pregnancy, childbirth and the period after the birth, and who is able to identify, manage and refer women and newborns if complications occur.
All women should have skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth because the provision of skilled care at every birth significantly reduces the risk of maternal and newborn mortality. This indicator can also give us information on the use of maternity services in a country, and can measure a health system’s ability to provide good care during childbirth. Skilled attendance is a crucial factor in reducing maternal and newborn death.
A national survey was undertaken in each country from a representative sample of households where women and girls were asked how many babies they have given birth to and when their births occurred. Additional questions were asked about the circumstances at each birth and whether a doctor, midwife, nurse or other skilled person was present. The indicator concerns births that occurred 2-5 years before the survey.
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Alternative Data Sources
The data for each indicator on African Health Stats (AHS) are published by the UN agency, or UN inter-agency group, which holds responsibility for global monitoring of the indicator. This varies by indicator. Please refer to ‘Data Source’. AHS uses data from these sources because such data are internationally comparable and it is the mandate of those agencies to prepare such data and monitor progress internationally. In some cases the UN agency has made adjustments to the data in order to make national data internationally comparable, for example they may adjust national estimates to account for differences in survey design, the extent of potential underreporting, and the definition of what is being measured (eg. maternal deaths). This means that at times there may be discrepancies between national and international estimates. Individual countries may prefer to instead rely on national figures for national monitoring. For uniformity, AHS uses only international estimates of the UN agencies in data visualisations.
In 2014, the following countries communicated that they use alternative figures to monitor the indicator Births Attended by Skilled Personnel instead of the figures that appear in AHS data visualisations. The most recent alternative figure supplied by these countries in 2014, by source are: Botswana 2013 94 (no source); Burundi 2013 73 (no source); Ethiopia 2014 14.5 (no source); Malawi 2014 87.4 (no source); Nigeria 2013 38 DHS; South Sudan 2013 12 (no source); Tanzania 2010 51 DHS; Togo 2013 59 (no source); Zimbabwe 2014 80 (no source).
Collection Summary
A national survey was undertaken in each country from a representative sample of households during which women and girls were asked how many children they have given birth to and when the births occurred. Additional questions were asked about the circumstances at each birth and whether a doctor, midwife, nurse or other skilled person was present. A traditional birth attendant such as a dai or a relative or friend is not counted as a skilled birth attendant (see WHO 2004 document ‘Making pregnancy safer: the critical role of the skilled attendant’ for a definition of a skilled attendant). The indicator is the percentage of births that occurred in the 2-5 years before the survey that were attended by a skilled health professional.
