Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Ethical review and approval were obtained from the UoN/KNH Ethical Review Committees: number P749/10/2018, valid from 6thDecember 2018 to 5th December 2019.

Consent to participate

Participants provided informed consent before recruitment. Printed consent forms in English and Kiswahili were provided to parturients to read. Participants who could not read were read for verbatim by the research assistant in the presence of a next of kin before signing. Thumbprints were acceptable for illiterate participants. Parturients were free to withdraw from the study at any given point without prejudice. Moreover, the confidentiality of our participants was upheld during and after this study by de-identifying questionnaires. Signed consent forms and questionnaires were filed and stored in a lockable cabinet and databases password protected.

Consent for publication

Consent for publication was attained from study participants and collaborators. Competing interests
The authors have declared no non-financial or financial conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

Sincere appreciation to Dr. Osoti Alfred, Professor Omondi Ogutu, Dr. Anne Pulei and Dr. Michoma Peter for their tireless efforts in supervision and guidance. Appreciation to Kenyatta National Hospital labor ward.