Factors associated with the recommended antenatal care attendance among pregnant women in Eastern Uganda

Abstract

The study intended to determine the factors associated with the recommended antenatal care attendance among pregnant women in Eastern Uganda. In order to identify the study main objective, three specifics were measured: and describing the relationship between demographic factors and ANC, analyzing the relationship between socio-economic factors and ANC and examining the relationship between media accessibility and ANC. The study used secondary data which was collected by UBOS in 2016 regarding Uganda`s demography with the intention of profiling the demography of Uganda. The data was presented in two levels that is to say univariate analysis and bivariate analysis. A higher proportion of respondents had attended (57%) ANC for at most four times, a larger proportion of the respondents were Anglicans (43%), a half of the respondents were poor (26%), highest proportion of the respondents (26%) was in the age group of 20-24 years, majority had acquired primary education as their highest level (66%), majority of the respondents were residing in rural areas (87%), a larger proportion of the respondents was married and cohabiting. Most of the respondents were not currently working 79% and almost three quarters of the respondents had access to media (71%). From bivariate analysis, education level, marital status, wealth quintile and age were statistically associated with ANC as the p-value was less than 0.05. In conclusion, antenatal care visit was found to increase with the education level of the mothers. The more educated the mother the more the antenatal visits and the less educated the mother, the less antenatal visits. This fact could be attributed to the fact that the educated mothers have prior knowledge regarding Antenatal care compared to the uneducated. The young mothers attended antenatal care more times compared to the old mothers, as they are more knowledgeable about the need for antenatal care services and thus the more the antenatal care uptake.