Assessment of factors associated with early antenatal care attendance among mothers in Bukedea district

Abstract

Introduction: Early antenatal care (ANC) attendance refers to pregnant mother visiting ANC clinic within 0-12 weeks of pregnancy (first trimester). Early ANC attendance plays a significant role in ensuring good maternal and new-born child health. It is a critical point for health providers to deliver care and support and to give information, to pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy. ANC aims mainly at prevention, early detection and management of general medical and pregnancy-associated disorders. However, the aim of antenatal care can be attained by following the recommended practices as far as antenatal care is concerned especially through early ANC attendance. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the level of early antenatal care attendance and associated factors among pregnant women to inform prioritization of interventions on antenatal care utilization in Bukedea district. Methodology: This was a quantitative cross-sectional study. All health facilities were considered. Systematic sampling was used to select pregnant and childbearing women (women who had a child less than three years old) from the health facility. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Data were collected using Epicollect5, a mobile application, and uploaded to the central web server. Collected data were cleaned using Microsoft Excel and then exported to Stata 14 for statistical analysis. Multiple Poisson regression was used to establish factors associated with the level of early ANC attendance in Bukedea district. Results: The study interviewed 403 mothers. Of these, 33% had a high level of early ANC attendance. The respondent’s home distance from the health facility, the source of health information during pregnancy, experience of any health problem during pregnancy, and the primary occupation of respondents were significantly association with the level of early ANC attendance among pregnant women in Bukedea.