Antenatal Care Service Utilization among Pastoral Community, Ethiopia

The utilization of Antenatal care from a trained provider is important to monitor the pregnancy and reduce morbidity and mortality risks for the mother and child during pregnancy and delivery. Only Thirty-four percent of women who gave birth in the five years preceding the survey received antenatal care from a skilled provider. Pastoralists are faced by a myriad of challenges which range from insecurity to health related challenges. Health service utilization pattern among pastoralists in Ethiopia is not well documented. A total of 639 women participated in the quantitative survey with respondent rate of 98.15%. The proportion of women who received antenatal care for their last pregnancy was only 15.5 % (99). Out of this 10.3% received two to three visits. The main reasons mentioned for not attending antenatal care were, 490 (76.7%) due to lack of awareness and 469 (73.4%) absence of health problems during last pregnancy. Multivariate analysis showed that there was significant association between antenatal care service utilization and ANC visit by health extension workers (AOR=, 4.042, 95%CI: 1.982, 8.244,) and residential distance (AOR 4.214, 95% CI 1.025, 17.325) respectively.