Factors associated with antenatal and delivery care in Sudan: Analysis of the 2010 Sudan household survey

Abstract

Background: Every day, globally approximately a thousand women and girls needlessly die as a result o complications during pregnancy, childbirth or the 6 weeks following delivery. The majority of maternal deaths are avoidable and could be prevented with proven interventions to prevent or manage complications durin pregnancy and child birth. The aim of this study was to examine factors associated with underutilization o maternal health services in Sudan Methods: Data was obtained from the Sudan Household Health Survey 2010(SHHS). The SHHS collected data fro 5730 women, aged 15-49 years and who were pregnant in the last 2 years preceding the survey. The selection o the respondents was through a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. Interviews were conducted wit respondents to collect data about their demographic characteristics, reproductive history, pregnancy and chil delivery. Univariate analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the data Results: The factors associated with receiving antenatal care were, higher educational level (odds ratio (OR) = 3.428 95 % CI 2.473-4.751-p value 0.001), higher household wealth (OR 1.656, 95 % CI: 1.484-1.855-p value 0.001) an low parity (OR =1.214, 95 % CI: 1.035-1.423-p value 0.017). The factors associated with institutional delivery wer higher educational level (OR = 1.929, 95 % CI: 1.380-2.697-p value 0.001), high household wealth (OR = 2.293 95 % CI: 1.988-2.644 p value 0.001), urban residence (OR = 1.364, 95 % CI: 1.081-1.721 p value 0.009), low parit (OR = 2.222, 95 % CI: 1/786-2.765 p value 0.001), receiving ANC (OR = 3.342, 95 % CI: 2.306-4.844 p value 0.001) an complications during pregnancy (OR = 1.606, 95 % CI: 1.319-1.957 p value 0.001) Conclusions: The factors associated with both antenatal care use and institutional delivery are similar an interventions to target these include expanding female education and improving coverage and affordability o health services.