| dc.description.abstract | Background: Antenatal care refers to Pregnancy care received from skilled providers, such as doctors, nurses/midwives, and medical assistants/clinical officers. (UBOS and ICF 2018). Antenatal care plays an important role in ensuring a healthy mother and baby during pregnancy and after delivery. Antenatal care programs are designed to maximize good health outcomes; low maternal and neonatal mortality, low postpartum anemia, and appropriate birth weight.
Methods: The study involved quantitative analysis of Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) data of 2016. A total of weighted sample of 2426 women aged 15–49 were included in my analyses. I examined the association between antenatal care uptake and independent variables using binary logistic regression analysis. The results are presented using odds ratio (OR), with their respective confidence intervals (CIs). Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: The results from the univariate analyses indicate that approximately 97% of women aged 15-49 years attended antenatal care. Majority of the women (26.6% and 36.2%) were aged 30-34 and 35-39 respectively. Over 8 in 10 (88.2%) of the respondents were residing in urban areas and more than half of women (68.6%) had attained primary level of education, about 40% 0f Results presented in Table 4.1 show that out of the weighted sample of approximately 2426 women;39% of women were Catholics. 59% were working in the agriculture sector however more than half of women (51.6%) were in poor wealth index and, most of them were from Eastern and western region by 32.9% and 23.4% respectively.
Conclusion: My study has revealed that antenatal care uptake is higher among women in the central and western region and it is associated with age, level of education, wealth index, residence, exposure to mass media, access to health insurance, religion. The identified predictors act on both the supply and demand side for antenatal care services, and thus emphasizes the significance of the social determinants of health as well as the need for programs/ interventions that focus beyond improving physical access. | en_US |
