Factors Affecting Antenatal Care Service Utilization in the Rural Areas of Uganda

Abstract

It should be noted that though the utilization of ANC in Uganda has increased at 98.1% in urban areas and 97.1% in rural areas, the number of mothers who attend ANC for more than once remains low in rural areas of Uganda at 58.3% compared to their counterparts in urban areas at 65.2%, translating to 2346 women in urban areas and only 7807 mothers in rural areas. This has an effect to mothers and babies born from rural areas since they become prone to diseases such as obstetric fistula to mothers especially teen mothers and HIV/AIDS to the fetus during both pregnancy and child birth as a result of lack of guidance and counseling during pregnancy which would otherwise be averted. Therefore, attending ANC is crucial. This study therefore covered factors explaining the utilization of ANC services in rural areas of Uganda and data of 2016 UDHS was used and it was collected specifically on women of reproductive ages (15-49) who had a live birth 2 years preceding to the survey. This study established that age in 5 years, wealth index, frequency of watching television, and partner’s education were explaining the utilization of ANC in rural areas of Uganda. However, type of place of residence, current marital status, and partner’s occupation did not have an association with the outcome. Therefore, it should be recommended that ANC services should be availed to women of reproductive ages especially in the rural areas of Uganda taking into account such factors which exert an explanation on the outcome.