Focused Antenatal Care Service Utilization and Associated Factors in Damot Sore District, Southern Ethiopia, Community Based Cross Sectional Study

Abera Beyamo
2017 American Journal of Health Research  
One of the important factors in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality is focused antenatal care which considers every pregnant woman who was at high risk for developing pregnancy related complications. Hence, all pregnant women should receive at least four antenatal visits to early identify the complications and intervene accordingly. The study aimed to assess focused antenatal care service utilization and associated factors among mothers who gave birth within 6 month preceding the study in
more » ... Damot Sore District. A community based cross sectional study was conducted using quantitative methods in April, 2017 in Damot Sore District. Study participants were selected by simple random sampling method from the sampling frame. Data were entered into Epidata 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis, and Bivariate and multivariable analysis was used to identify predictors of focused antenatal care service utilization. Variables with odds ratio <=0.05 in multivariable analysis were taken as independent predictors. A total of 490 mothers who have history of antenatal care for their last birth within 6 month preceding the study period were included in the study and 229(46.7%) mothers attended focused antenatal care service. Maternal age (25-34) (AOR=1.92, 95%CI: 1.20, 3.09), husbands occupation (AOR=1.92, 95%CI: 1.30, 2.83) and women empowerment (AOR=2.13, 95%CI: 1.43, 3.20) were significantly associated with focused antenatal care service utilization. The majority of pregnant mothers did not attend focused antenatal care during their last pregnancy. Maternal age, husband's occupation and empowerment were identified as factors affecting focused antenatal care service utilization. Provision of focused antenatal care should be used as an opportunity for early detection of pregnancy related complications.
doi:10.11648/j.ajhr.20170506.11 fatcat:db7lj2xygzbrrci6he753l7lhu