Time of Antenatal Care Booking and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women Attending Ambo Town Health Facilities, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Back ground: Antenatal care is a key intervention for reducing maternal and child mortality if initiated during early pregnancy. However, the existing evidence from developing countries, including Ethiopia indicates that most pregnant women attending ANC in their late pregnancy. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the time of antenatal care booking and associated factors among pregnant women attending Ambo town health facilities, central Ethiopia. Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study design was conducted among pregnant women attending Ambo town health facilities from February 1 to March 30 of 2012. A total of 379 pregnant mothers were interviewed at exit from antenatal clinic by using structured and pre-tested questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 and a logistic regression data analysis was carried out. Results: The study revealed that only 13.2% of the study respondents were started ANC timely (in the first trimester of pregnancy). Women’s education (2.10, 95% CI =1.13, 3.82), women’s residence (2.86, 95% CI =1.11, 4.38), family monthly income (1.98, 95% CI =1.03, 4.31) and awareness on time of booking (3.86, 95% CI =1.11, 2.38) were found to be a significant predictors for time of ANC booking. Conclusions: Timely entry to antenatal care was low in the study area. In order to improve the situation, it is important to provide community based information, education and communication on antenatal care and its right time of initiation. In addition, investing on women education is very important for increasing their decision power to use focused ANC service effectively.