Sinshaw, Workinesh (PhD)Yilala, Serawit2018-07-182023-11-062018-07-182023-11-062015-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/9190Background:-Antenatal care is a type of care given for women during pregnancy and is a key strategy for reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. The goal of ANC is to prevent health problems of pregnant women through detection of complications and treatment of pregnancy related illness. Thus, late antenatal attendance makes difficult to implement effectively the routine ANC strategies that enhance maternal wellbeing and good prenatal outcomes. Objective:-The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of late initiation of antenatal care and associated factors among antenatal care attendants in selected Health Centers of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methodology:-A quantitative cross-sectional institution based study was used to assess late initiation of antenatal care and factors associated with it in selected 10 health centers of Addis Ababa. Four hundred twenty six pregnant women who attend ANC were included in this study. Data was entered, coded and analyzed using SPSS, version 20. Descriptive statistics like frequencies and percentages was used to present the results. Result:-Out of 407 pregnant mothers included in this study, 267 (65.6%) pregnant mothers started their first ANC visit early while the remaining 140 (34.4%) pregnant mothers started ANC late. In both cases, the timing of the first ANC booking ranged from 4 weeks to 32 weeks of gestation with mean timing of 13 weeks with standard deviation of 5.47 weeks. Multivariate analysis revealed that respondents with the educational level of high school and above, who had knowledge on the importance of ANC, those who received advise from HEW and media, those advised to be booked within 12 weeks of gestation and those who reasoned the time of booking was appropriate were more likely to be booked early compared to their counter parts (AOR= 3.346, 95%, CI: 1.618, 6.918), (AOR = 2.666, 95% CI: 1.266, 5.616), (AOR= 3.716, 95% CI: 1.671, 8.266), (AOR= 20.928, 95% CI: 4.499, 97.347), and (AOR= 14.765, 95% CI: 7.109, 30.667), respectively. Conclusion:-The results of this study indicated that two-third of the respondents had started their ANC within the recommended time (65.6%) and the rest one-third were booked late (34.4%). The Respondents educational level, knowledge on the importance of ANC service utilization, Source of the information which contributed to book timely for the current pregnancy and the advice given on the time of first ANC booking are significantly and positively influenced early initiation of ANC in Addis Ababa. However, there is still more work is required to fully achieve ANC utilization in the recommended time. Key words: Antenatal care, late initiation, timely booking, pregnancy, Addis AbabaenAntenatal carelate initiationImely bookingPregnancyThesis