Assessment of Contributing Factors for Late Initiation of Antenatal Care among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Public Health Centers in Kambeta Timbaro Zone, South Nation Nationalities People Region, Ethiopia.

Berhanu Balcha (MSc)Tekelab Tesefalidet2021-06-172023-11-062021-06-172023-11-062012-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/26897Background : For all women of reproductive age, especially for pregnant women, utilization of health care services is a key proximate determinant of maternal and infant outcomes, including maternal and infant mortality. It is evident that timely antenatal care is an opportunity to prevent the direct causes of maternal mortalities and reduction of fetal and neonatal deaths related to obstetric complications Objective: To assess factors that contributes for late initiation of antenatal care among pregnant women attending ANC Clinics in public health centers in Kembata Timbaro Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia. Method: A facility based cross-sectional study with supplement of qualitative study design was carried out to collect data from 401 pregnant women who were attending antenatal care service at five randomly selected governmental health centres in Kembata Timbaro zone. Pretested and structured questionnaire was used to collect the data & data were entered onto a computer using Epi-info 3.5.1 statistical program then exported to SPSS Windows version 16.0 for further analysis. OR & 95% CI was used to measure the associations. Results: This study showed that prevalence of late entry to antenatal care was 68.6%. The mean timing was 5.5 + 1.8 months. Multivariate analysis revealed that Age, maternal education, family income, parity, previous utilization of ANC and type of pregnancy remained significant factors influencing late booking. Conclusion The findings of this study showed that most women book ANC late. This seems to be because antenatal care is viewed primarily as curative rather than preventive in the study population. Public enlightenment, health education coupled with women empowerment would be helpful in reducing the problem. In addition to that research is needed to determine the best approaches for health education programmes to correct the misconceptions about antenatal care.en-USAntenatal Care,Pregnant womenAssessment of Contributing Factors for Late Initiation of Antenatal Care among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic at Public Health Centers in Kambeta Timbaro Zone, South Nation Nationalities People Region, Ethiopia.Thesis