Determinants of using at least four antenatal care visits among young women aged 18-24 years

Abstract

Antenatal care plays an important role in ensuring a healthy mother and baby during pregnancy and even after delivery. In Uganda, despite the fact that majority (97 percent) of the women attended ANC for at least one time, only 60% were able to accomplish the 4 recommended ANC visits(Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and ICF, 2017). The main objective of the study was to examine the determinants of using at least four ANC visits among young women. Other specific objectives were; women who live in urban areas are more likely to attend four antenatal care visits compared to those in rural areas, Women who were married/cohabiters were more likely to attend four antenatal care visits than widowed or single. The study utilized the UDHS 2016 Individual recode file and data was analyzed using statistical package for social scientists (SPSS 16) in testing of the hypotheses at two levels, the Univariate and bivariate level. Data was first weighted to obtain the results. Women who attend four and more visits were coded 1 and those with less than four were coded 0. The sample size was 3546 women aged 15-24. The study found out that out of 3546 women aged 15-24, 61.4% attended at least four antenatal visits as compared to 38.6% who attended less than four visits. Bivariate results indicate that there exists significant relationship between antenatal care attendance and parity (p=0.041, chisq=8.268), age (p=0.014, chisq=6.020), residence (p=0.000, chisq=15.047), husband education level (p=0.000, chisq=19.151), education level of the woman (p=0.001, chisq=16.044), access to media (p=0.003, chisq=8.967) and region (p=0.006, chisq=12.342). Religion (p=0.354, chsq=3.253) and marital status (p=0.070, chisq=7.051) were found not to be significant with utilization of at least 4 antenatal visits. Involvement of women in the labour market and maternal leave to the women can improve antenatal seeking behaviors for the women. Separation of pregnant women at health centers with special interest to adolescents and those with parity four and above in order to give them health education that is appropriate about antenatal care.