Abstract:
Background: Ethiopia is one of the countries with the highest burden of maternal death with a
mortality ratio of 676 per 100,000 live births and annual death toll of 19,000. Despite the
enormous efforts in the past few years, universal access to postnatal Care (PNC) service
remains far to be attained with a country wide coverage of only 12% during the 2014 MEDHS.
Objectives: This study was aimed at assessing the PNC service utilization and associated
factors among mothers in Cheha Woreda of Guraghe Zone, SNNPR.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study that involved 646 women who gave birth
in the last one year found in selected kebeles of Cheha Woreda was conducted from October
10 to 30, 2015. A two-stage sampling technique using random sampling for selection of
kebeles with proportionate allocation of the subjects and simple random sampling to get 658
women was used after getting updated list of targeted women from health extension workers.
A pre-tested structured questionnaire was employed to collect data from women at household
level. The important factors of PNC service utilization in the study population was identified
by fitting a multivariable logistic regression model. All analyses was conducted using SPSS for
windows version 20.0 and statistical significance was considered at α<0.05.
Result: With a 98% response rate the assessment showed that the magnitude of PNC was
51.9% and the probability of PNC utilization among mothers who gave birth at institutions
was 7 [AOR=7, 95%CI (3.5, 14)] times that of home delivered ones, the odds of utilizing PNC
was 4 [AOR=4, 95%CI (1.10, 4.7)] times among women who accepted four or more ANC
than that of <4 ANC, compared to mothers aged >=35 years, the odds of PNC was 4
[AOR=3.9, 95%CI (1.8, 8.4)] times and 2 ([AOR=1.7, 95%CI (1.07, 2.70)] times among
whose age was 20-24 and age 25-29 respectively, and the odds of PNC was 2 [AOR=2.2,
95%CI (1.3, 3.5)] times for those women who are better knowledgeable about danger
signs as that of their counterparts.
Conclusion: For about 50% prevalence of PNC in the district, enhancement of the factors
institutional delivery, women knowledge about danger signs and frequency of ANC
utilization are the most important areas of intervention for stakeholders to upgrade it.
