Abstract:

Background: Antenatal care is important for maternal and child health, and partner involvement can improve outcomes. However, partner involvement in antenatal care in Tanzania is low.

Objectives: Were to investigate the prevalence and sociodemographic factors associated with women’s partner involvement in antenatal care at Makongoro Health Centre.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted, collected data from 185 pregnant women attending Makongoro Health Centre for antenatal care. The study explored the prevalence of partner involvement in antenatal care and the sociodemographic factors associated with this involvement such as age, educational level, marital status, and occupation.

Rationale: The findings of this study will provide valuable insights into the barriers and facilitators of partner involvement in antenatal care and inform strategies to improve maternal and child health outcomes in Tanzania.

Results: It was found that 101 (54.6%) of male partners attended ANC services with their women, in which only 2 (1.1%) were able to attend at least more than 4 visits and majority attended only one visit 64 (36.6%).In association between socio-demographic of women’s partner’s involvement and male involvement in ANC clinics significant association was found on the age of women with P-value=0.001, occupation of women P-value=0.033 and partner’s occupation P-value<0.05, however on multivariate analysis only age of the women (OR:2.019 95%CI 1.066 – 3.826, P-value=0.031) and partner’s occupation (OR: 2.840 95%CI 1.286 – 6.276, P-value = 0.016) were statistically significant

Conclusion: Frequencies of participation of these male partners are still very low and require emphasize and better strategies by both healthcare workers and women to ensure good pregnancy outcome and able to attain positive maternal experience in Tanzania.