Background :

The Antenatal care is the care which a pregnant woman receives from health care profession. The aim is to evaluate the risk to anticipate complication, providing treatment and prevention of complication together with education, thus the program was initiated so as to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with pregnancy(1).

Worldwide, maternal mortality and neonatal mortality still remain to be a challenge. According to World Health Organization report, approximately 800 women died every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, in 2020, 95% of the deaths occurred in low income countries(2).

In 2020 the maternal mortality rate in African region was 531 deaths per 100,000 live birth, which contribute up to 69% of global maternal death in 2020(2). In Tanzania the maternal mortality rate was 238 deaths per 100,000 live birth in 2020(3).

Early antenatal care service attendance reduces the adverse effect of pregnancy outcome. 25% of the pregnant women die during prenatal period due to complication like pre-eclampsia, antepartum hemorrhage which could be prevented by attending antenatal care visit(4).

The world health organization in 2016 recommended that every pregnant woman should attend ANC at least 8 visits, where first visit should be initiated within the first 12 weeks of gestation, the second and third visits at 20 and 26 weeks of gestation respectively. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth visits at 30, 34,36,38, and 40 weeks of gestation respectively(5).