Factors associated with utilization of antenatal care services of women attending maternal Child health services in Kanungu District: a case of Kanungu Health Center IV

Abstract

Utilization of Antenatal Care services is still low in Kanungu District Uganda generally at a rate of 53% and this is attributed to low levels of education, lack of health information exposure, poverty of pregnant mothers among other factors; however these factors have not been fully explored in Kanungu District. The main objective of this study was to find out the factors that are associated with high Utilization of Antenatal Care services in Kanungu District. The research was based on secondary data specifically data generated from ANC registers at Kanungu Health Center IV. The study only focused on women in the reproductive age groups (15-49). A total of 100 women was the sample size. Data analysis was performed using STATA version 15 and Rstudio version 4.0.4 and analysis was carried out at 3 levels; Univariate, Bivariate and Multivariate. The variables that were considered in the study are: background characteristics such as education, place of residence among others and the dependent variable were binary (i.e.1- Utilized, 0- Did not utilize) Some of these variables were found to be statistically significant (education, mother’s parity, and age) while one was found to be insignificant (Place of residence) The key recommendation to this study is that women should be sensitized on the benefits of utilizing ANC services to the maximum.