Factors influencing utilization of Antenatal care among women of childbearing age in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Background: maternal, household and institutional factors influencing women's use of antenatal care services in Zimbabwe. This result in women dying to causes related to child birth due to inadequate use of maternal health care service, antenatal care service in particular. Objectives: The study investigates maternal, household and institutional factors associated with antenatal care service utilization among women in Zimbabwe with the aim of determining the policies which can be advocated in order to improve reproductive public health challenge still causing increased mortality among women during pregnancy and child birth. Methods: The study used the 2011 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) in order to achieve the study objective. The study population consists of 9171 women who participated in the study, out of which 4397 of them had an ANC visits. The study used univariate, bivariate and logistic regression to estimate the women's use of ANC in Zimbabwe. Results: The study found that about 64.9% had at least 4 ANC visits. The study also found that at individual maternal factor, timing of ANC service utilization predicted significantly the reduction of women ANC service utilization in the country (OR=0.03; 95% CI [0.2-0.06], p < 0.001). At household level the richest household increased the likelihood of utilizing ANC services (OR=1.45; 95% CI [0.88-1.86], p < 0.05), and high quality of health care service delivery was associated with increased likelihood of women's use of ANC services facilities after pregnancy (OR=2.24; 95% CI [1.39-3.61], p< 0.05). Conclusion: Evidence suggests that in order to improve antenatal care service utilization in Zimbabwe, there is a need to implement individual, household and institutional based interventions that would be best to improve maternal health outcome and subsequently improve the state of health among women in the country.