Assessement of Late Entry to Antenatal Care and Its Predictors among ANC Attendees in Gambella Region
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Date
2010-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Antenatal care is more beneficial in preventing adverse pregnancy outcomes when it is sought early in the pregnancy and continued through to delivery. Despite the widespread availability of free antenatal care services, most women in our country attend their first antenatal clinic late in pregnancy and fail to return for follow up care, which potentially leads to perinatal and maternal complications.
Objective: The objective of the study is to assess late antenatal care booking and its predictors among pregnant women attending antenatal care in selected public health institution in Gambella Region, South West of Ethiopia.
Methods: Facility based crossectional study was conducted from March 15 to April 30, 2010 on selected samples 302 pregnant women attending antenatal care. Data were, collected through pretested structured questionnaire, entered in to Epi-info version 3.4 and then exported to SPSS-15 windows statistical packages for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was employed in order to infer associations and predictions.
Result: Forty eight percent of women commenced ANC after 16 weeks of gestation. The mean gestational age at booking was 4.6±1.4 months. When the effects of other independent variables on gestational age at booking were controlled, the following characteristics were found to be predictive of failure to initiate antenatal care by 16 weeks of gestation (P<0.05): unplanned pregnancy [AOR=2.85,95%CI (1.274,6.355)], past booking experience of antenatal care after 16weeks of gestation[AOR=5.85,95%CI( 2.665,12.83)], reason for booking was thought the time was appropriate[AOR=2.15,95%CI( 1.052,4.38)].
Conclusion: A significant proportion of mothers commenced antenatal care after 16 weeks of gestation in their pregnancies. It is concluded that unplanned pregnancy and the above two factors were a predictive of late entry to antenatal care in Gambella. These findings indicate that the importance of early antenatal booking is yet to be promoted
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Antenatal care